Losing Yourself
by Iknowyoulovemexoxo
Summary: Two people who have never met are both dealing with loss in their lives. When their paths unexpectedly cross can they help each other deal with that loss and find themselves again or will one or both of them be lost forever?
1. Chapter 1

This idea just wouldn't go away so I had to write it. I hope you enjoy it but let me know if you actually want it to continue.

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It had been two long weeks since he had buried his wife and by now he was sick of being at home by himself with nothing to do so he wanted, no needed, to go back to work. Due to his extended period of time off work he had to get permission to go back to work so now he had to call his egotistical, self important asshole of a boss.

Scrolling through his contacts he eventually found him and had to smile at the name he had saved Dan under, calling 'Douchebag' he sat back and waited.

"Paul, it's so good to hear from you. How are you doing?"

He was used to some false greetings lately but that was the worst so he ignored it, "I am planning to be back at work on Monday."

"But you still have another two weeks of leave before you are due back."

His ability to state the obvious still worked well, "And? I believe that I am ready to return to work on Monday so that is what I plan to do."

"Well I think that you should take the further two weeks off. I think it is in both your interest and that of the company if you made sure that you are absolutely ready to return to work before you do. As much as you may disagree with this decision it is for the best and I won't change my mind."

Why it was in his best interest to stay at home when he was bored out of his mind was a mystery, "But I am telling you that I am ready to return to work so can't I just do that?"

"I'm sorry Paul but no."

"Great, thanks for nothing Dan. At last there will be no big surprises when I return to work, you're still a Grade A asshole." Without saying so much as goodbye he ended the call and tossed his phone on to the couch.

If he couldn't go back to work yet then there was one thing that he could do, one thing that he had been putting off for three weeks. Reluctantly he got up from the couch to get his shoes on and to head out.

Forty five minutes later and Paul was slowly making his way into the hospital when he received a notification of a text message, half expecting the message to be that he was fired he reluctantly removed his phone from his pocket to read it:

 _Dan is PISSED, he keeps muttering about how you disrespected him by trying to return early & calling him an asshole LOL The gang supports you & you know we agree with what you said as it's the truth. Zayn heard his groupies talking about him not looking forward to your return as he'll have competition for the top spot. Most people are excited for your return so we'll all have to go and have a drink when you come back if you're up for it._

Reading the text he couldn't help but smile, it was nice not to be treated like somebody who would crack and fall apart any second and to be included in the gossip and not for it to be censored to 'protect' him. He had to turn his phone off before he went into the hospital so as he shut it down he promised himself that he would reply to the text later.

It was weird being back here and not exactly the most welcoming of experiences as it brought back a lot of memories but this was something he needed to do. When he reached the ICU he raised his hand to request to be buzzed in but as he did the door opened already, "Paul, what are you doing here?"

Paul happily embraced the younger woman, "Well hello to you too Cassie. I got a call a few weeks ago to say that you still had something of Lola's here and to come and pick it up when I was ready so here I am."

Quickly typing in the code into the keypad she pulled the door open and motioned him inside, "Go in, I will go and have a look for it as it's probably been put somewhere really safe now."

As they walked further into ICU Cassie slipped behind the Nurse's desk and began to look beneath it unsure of what she was looking for. She was just standing up to go and look out the back when the door slammed open and a trolley was hurried in, "Where to Cass?"

"In the room just here please."As she made her way around the desk she felt bad that she had to leave him alone, "Why don't you take a seat behind the Nurse's desk, just don't touch anything, whilst you wait? I just need to get this patient settled and get everything hooked up and I'll be back with you."

It was clear that she was busy and he felt bad for coming at an inconvenient time, "It's okay, I'll go and call next time before I come by."

Cassie placed a gentle hand on his arm and shook her head, "You're fine, really you are. I won't be too long so just take a load off and wait, unless you have somewhere else to be."

He only wished that he had somewhere else to be, "Okay, if you're sure." It was strange to be walking around the other side of the desk, taking a seat at the desk he marvelled at how much more comfortable this chair was than the one he was used to sitting in here.

Stephanie glared at her brother as he eventually climbed onto the plane with his wife, "About fucking time."

Shane just stuck his tongue out at his sister as he put the hand luggage he was carrying away before he took a seat, "So where are Mom and Dad?"

"Just talking to the pilot, they'll be back in a minute."

True to her word Linda and Vince returned a few minutes later and both hugged Shane and Marissa before they sat down, "Glad you two could make it. Everyone should put their seatbelts on as we should be taking off any minute now."

The flight had just taken off and they had just removed their seatbelts when Shane reached across to kiss his wife, "I love you."

Stephanie pretended to gag, "Gross, remind me why I decided to play gooseberry on this trip."

"Well if you hadn't dumped Chad then you wouldn't be alone."

If she didn't want to get in trouble she would actually go over and shake her brother for saying that, "Would **you** have continued to date him?"

Snorting her older brother shook his head, "Hell no."

"Then why should I have continued to date him?"

He could only shrug his shoulders at this, "I don't know, you're the one complaining about being a gooseberry. I'm sure I can find somebody to set you up on a date with if you want."

That idea was actually more frightening than still being with Chad, "And on that note I am going to use the ladies. Please don't come up with any more crazy ideas whilst I am gone."

She left her parents talking to Shane and his wife at the front of the plane and slowly made her way through to the back where the bathroom was.

After using the bathroom she was just on her way back towards the front of the plane when suddenly it jerked down ripping a scream from her lips as she fell sprawling across the floor. Slowly sitting up she rubbed her head where she caught it on a table as she fell and felt blood but she didn't panic as she could just get her Mom to help her clean it up. She was just about to stand up when suddenly the plane jerked again and the seatbelt sign started to flash, not wanting to risk getting hurt further right now she scrambled into the nearest seat and put a seatbelt on as the plane jerked downwards again.

Being so far back in the plane she had no idea what was going on and as the seconds ticked by and the noise in the plane got louder she could only grip onto the arm rests tightly. She didn't know how long she had been sat there, it felt like hours but in reality it was probably only a minute but quickly things took a turn for the worse and the plane started steadily nosediving. The last thing she remembered was screaming for her family before it all went black.

Twenty minutes later and finally she reappeared talking with the Doctor and the EMT's who had transferred the patient to the ICU but Paul didn't listen in to the conversation, he just waited for her to have a moment for him.

With file in hand Cassie walked back behind the desk to input all of the details they had into the computer as soon as she had found what Paul was after, "So where was I?"

"On your knees just about where I am if I remember correctly."

Immediately her cheeks flushed red when he said that, it sounded so wrong and she shouldn't have let her mind go there but it had. Keeping her gaze firmly on the floor she motioned to the private room that was just behind the Nurse's desk, "I'm just going to look in there, I will be back."

Confused by her behaviour he stood up and made his way to the other side of the desk and waited for her return.

A couple of minutes later and she returned with an envelope in hand, "Found it. Sorry it took me so long, it had been put in a really safe place with other things that needed to be kept safe."

"That's okay, I didn't mind waiting."

He was just about to say something when another Nurse appeared, "Do we have any other details on Jane Doe?"

Placing the envelope on the desk she flipped through the file she had, "Jane Doe, thought to be approximately mid to late twenties, plane crash, broken leg, broken ribs, unspecified damage to her back, concussion and swelling on the brain. This is all of the information we have."

The other Nurse frowned, "So we're no closer to being able to contact any family or friends to visit and sit with her?"

"No. From what the one EMT said when they were waiting to transfer her there was a rumour going around the ER that the other passengers in the plane crash that died were her family. To be honest I think it's all rumours now and we'll know more when the Police have done their investigating and until then we'll just have to monitor her closely."

He had been stood unable to stop himself from listening in as he was really curious about 'Jane Doe' and hearing about her injuries and the rumour that she had lost her family, combine that with the fact that he had nothing else to do he had an idea, "Could I sit with her? I know I don't know her, I'm definitely not her family but until you find her actual family it would give me something useful to do. With serious brain injuries it might be good for her to hear a voice, even if it isn't familiar and it might help her heal."

It would be wonderful but she wasn't sure if she should, "I don't know Paul, you've only just lost Lola and I don't know the real status of this woman or her chances of survival and I don't want to hurt you."

"Trust me Cassie, I can handle this. I can come in every day and spend a few hours or so talking to her, reading her the paper or even some trashy magazines and I can keep an eye on her vitals so if anything happens you will know before the alarms sound. If it is too much for me I will say and I will leave."

The other Nurse knew Paul also and knew his history, "What harm can it do Cass? It would really help until we can find her family so if he says that he can do it why not let him?"

There was no worse feeling than when it was two against one so reluctantly she agreed, "Okay fine, you can sit with her but if it is too much you must tell me. I also expect you to take regular breaks and you must eat three meals a day."

"Sheesh woman, you drive a hard bargain. I agree to your terms."

Cassie sniggered at him, "I do it for your benefit. You know where she is though, she is in Lola's old room so if you're still okay with it then you know where you're going."

He paused briefly before he picked up the envelope and turned around to enter his wife's old room. As he entered the room it was filled with the almost comforting sounds of the ventilator and heart monitor, pulling a chair across the room and placing it beside the bed he noticed how of what he could see of her face it was covered by cuts and bruises with a bandage wrapped around her head, an oxygen mask covering her mouth and a collar around her neck. Taking a seat beside the bed he took hold of her hand, "You don't know me but my name is Paul, I will be keeping you company until they find your family."


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to everybody for the incredible reaction to chapter one, I am so glad that you enjoyed it :) There has been a lot of requests for the next chapter so I hope you like this too.

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He hadn't been sat beside her bed for long when the door opened and Cassie walked in, "Okay lunchtime. You either go willingly to get something to eat or I will have security escort you out."

With a raised eyebrow he turned in his chair, "Are you actually kidding me right now?"

"I'm actually not. I told you that you could only sit with her on one condition that you took care of yourself too so you are leaving. I don't care if you're gone fifteen minutes and only eat a sandwich and have something to drink, just eat something please."

Paul was perfectly capable of looking after himself, he did not need her to act like his Mother but judging by the look on her face he wasn't going to win this battle so surrendered. Rising to his feet he shook his head, "Fine, I will go and get a sandwich and a trashy magazine to read to her and I will return. Happy now?"

"Very, thank you."

Reluctantly leaving the room he made his way out of ICU and went to find himself something to eat.

Fifteen minutes later and he returned to ICU after polishing off his sandwich with what he classed as a trashy magazine. Women tended to like gossip so this was something he could read to her as he didn't actually know her.

Returning to his seat beside her bed he opened up the magazine, "So the headline story for this magazine is something to do with Kim Kartrashian protecting her husband after Taylor Swift continued her victim complex after a song he released. Apparently Kim released audio online that clearly showed Taylor doing the opposite of what she has since publicly stated. Why is this news? Clearly Taylor is manipulating her fans and the public to suit her so why is anybody surprised that she lied?" He stopped reading when a voice cleared behind him, turning in his seat he was surprised to see a Doctor in the doorway and not at the bed, "Is there a problem?"

"No no, I'm just wondering who this patient is? I was told my patient was 'Jane Doe' in this room but you're here talking to her so I don't know where I am and don't want to hassle the nurses if I can help it. Can you tell that today is my first day in this hospital?"

Paul placed the magazine on the side and stood up, "This is Jane Doe's room. I am just sitting here talking to her to help with her recovery whilst they find her family and friends."

The Doctor then walked into the room and picked up her chart from the end of the bed and began to read it over before he looked up, "I don't want to be rude here but as you are not family I'm not comfortable discussing her health status with you, so if you could please leave the room whilst I examine her I would be really grateful."

He had expected that so quickly walked out of the room and pulled the door closed behind him before he collapsed into a chair outside of the room to wait as he expected it to be a while.

Time seemed to drag on as he sat outside the room, people rushed back and forth to different rooms and Cassie went in and out of the room that he had just been in. Eventually the Doctor left the room, "You may go back in now, she will be going for a scan at some point this afternoon but until then you can sit with her again. Thank you for your patience."

"You're welcome." With the room free he made his way back inside and took his seat, "I'm back for now, I'm sure you missed me."

Time then seemed to fly by as he sat talking to the unknown woman laying in the hospital bed, he didn't have to talk about his feelings or deal with sympathetic looks because he had just lost his wife, he could just talk and she listened, she may have had no other choice but it helped him.

When Cassie appeared beside him checking the vitals he looked at his watch, "Let me guess, you're just about to tell me that it is gone six o'clock and I should leave now as I need to eat dinner."

Walking around him she picked up the file and wrote a few things down, "You know me so well. Feel free to come by tomorrow if you are that way inclined but you really need your rest and to eat properly."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I get it. I will leave now and come back tomorrow to see if her family has been found and then if they haven't I will stay for a while."

She knew that he would say that, "I'll see you tomorrow Paul. Have a good evening."

When he left the hospital he turned his phone on and groaned when he saw that he had some missed calls from his parents, he didn't feel like talking to his Mom right now so he would call her back later. Climbing in to his car he headed home to eat and to procrastinate so that he didn't have to call his Mom and listen to her being overly concerned about his welfare when he was doing fine.

After parking in the garage Paul got out of his car and once he locked it he unlocked his phone to reply to the text from earlier as he walked into the house. Kicking the door to the kitchen shut behind him he stopped dead when he felt eyes on him, slowly raising his eyes from his phone he frowned when he saw his parents sat in front of him, "What?"

Patricia stood up and rushed over to her son, "Where have you been all day? We have been trying to get hold of you and when you didn't answer your home phone and your cell phone immediately went to the voice mail and you didn't call me back so I have been worried."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, "I was at the hospital, I had to pick up something of Lola's that they had found."

"That doesn't take all day though. Where else have you been?"

Why did he need to explain where he had been? He was a grown adult and could take care of himself. Reluctantly sliding his phone on to the counter he leant against it as he stared at his Mom, "What does it matter where I have been? It's not like I can go back to work and do something productive."

"What do you mean you can't go back to work? Have they fired you?"

"They haven't fired me, douchebag Dan just doesn't want me to come back yet as he knows that as soon as I return then I'll be number one in the company again and he'll look pathetic next to me."

The stories of intimidation and downright nasty behaviour that she had heard about this Dan guy she wasn't surprised to hear that he was blocking his return to work. It took a special kind of ego for somebody to act the way to other human beings that he had done but she was still disappointed to hear that he had sunk to a new low.

"Just be careful will you? He is a nasty human being."

Paul snorted, "Please, like I am scared of him. He can throw his weight around as much as he likes but he won't intimidate me. At the end of the day I have real friends that I can trust, he just has people who use him like he uses them."

A small smile came to her lips knowing who the ultimate winner in that situation was. "This doesn't explain where you have been all day and why you haven't been answering your phone? I have genuinely been afraid that you had done something stupid."

"I hadn't done anything stupid, I have spent the day at the hospital. I got a call a few weeks back to say that they still had something of Lola's there so I went to pick it up. I had to wait around as a patient was rushed in but then I overheard them talking about 'Jane Doe' and I felt bad when I heard her injuries so I offered to sit and talk to her. I know that they said when Lola was in a coma that talking to her might help, as I can't go back to work I thought I would offer to help this mystery woman until they identify her and find her family."

"So you just sat in the hospital talking to a random woman that you have never met? Why don't they know who she is?" She was curious how there was no identification on this woman as everybody carried something.

"I think she was in a plane crash or something."

Paul Senior had been quietly sat to the side allowing his wife to ask all of the questions but he was there to tell her to back off if necessary. As he was listening to everything that had been said and could now actually offer something to the conversation he jumped in, "I heard about that crash, it sounded pretty bad. The news said that the only information they had at that point was that one person had been pulled out alive, that was all they knew about the subject."

"Are you going to go back and sit with her again?"

Why did it sound like his Mom thought that he was making a terrible decision? "I am going back tomorrow? Why?"

As a parent you did everything you could to protect your children and she couldn't deny that she was worried about her son. There were no words for her to describe how she felt without upsetting him so she just had to keep quiet.

"What aren't you saying?" At this point in his life he knew his Mom very well and he could tell when she wasn't telling him everything. This was the exact situation that he was sick of dealing with though, he hated people treating him like he was going to fall apart if they said the wrong thing.

She felt backed in to a corner so with a heavy sigh she answered him, "I'm not saying that I am concerned for you sitting with this woman. A plane crash is not a walk in the park and you have only just lost Lola so can you emotionally deal with losing this woman also?"

"Considering I don't even know who she is then I can deal with it. Cassie already gave me the third degree about whether I could handle it before she let me sit with her and she is acting worse than you do whilst I am there so I'll be okay." He thought about leaving it there but ultimately honesty won out, "I need to do this. I know it sounds stupid but I need to feel useful, I need to not be the guy who just lost his wife, I need to not be treated like I am about to fall apart. I need to just be Paul again."

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to smother you."

"You don't smother me, you are just concerned and I mostly understand it. Jane Doe doesn't know me so she isn't censoring herself or walking on eggshells around me. I know she can't respond to me at all but the principle is there, I'm just me when I am with her and it really helps."

It probably didn't make sense to his parents as they had never been through it but it was how he felt.

Patricia couldn't deny that he seemed to be doing okay and nothing seemed to be amiss after spending the day with her, she just hoped that she wasn't missing anything as she would forever beat herself up for that fact. "Okay, if you are sure that you are okay and that it is making you happy then I will support you."

Their attention was drawn to his Father when he cleared his throat, "We support you."

"Yes we. I'm sorry dear, you have been so quiet that I forgot that you were here."

Laughter filled the room as Paul Snr looked offended at that comment, "I said something, I haven't been sat here mute."

"Okay okay, before you both have a domestic are we done here?"

"We're done. Let me make you dinner though, it's getting late now and it is the least I can do." She just wanted to make it up to her son in any way she could and making sure that he was eating would always put her mind at ease.

It wasn't that late but he would never turn down his Mom's cooking, "Be my guest. Can I help with anything?"

"Yes, take your Father out of my way please." Her husband always got under her feet in the kitchen as he always had to sample the food as it was cooking so she would be happy to get rid of him any way that she could.

After spending a nice evening with his parents he turned up at the hospital bright and early. The fact that he hadn't had to cook dinner was a definite highlight of his evening but now he had a paper in hand and was looking forward to spending time with Jane Doe, if he was needed.

When he was eventually buzzed into ICU he couldn't help but roll his eyes as Cassie stood there clearly ready to give him the third degree. "Good morning Cassie, you look well."

"Have you eaten and slept well?"

"Yes. My Mom cooked dinner for me as she was waiting for me when I got home as she thought I had done something stupid because I didn't answer her calls. I slept well though and I have also had breakfast. Has there been any progress with Jane Doe?"

"No, there has been nothing so far."

The tight smile on her face told Paul everything, "Shall I go and take a seat then?"

"Sure, thanks Paul." She was grateful to him for everything he was doing but she was still concerned for him.

When he entered the room Paul immediately noticed how the oxygen mask had changed and she was now on a ventilator. Taking a seat beside the bed he placed the newspaper down and picked up her hand gently stroking the back of it, "Good morning, I wish I could do something to find your family for you."

Placing her hand back on the bed he picked up the paper to read the headline on the front page but noticed the wreckage of a plane that was the picture first, "Holy shit, I doubt that anybody will get out of that wreckage in one piece." It was only when he looked up at 'Jane Doe' and looked back down at the headline that it all started making sense, "No wonder you're in such a mess if you were in that."

Rather than reading the story out loud he read it to himself in silence to see what information he could find out and it wasn't a lot as the Police seemed to be keeping things very quiet.

Once he had finished reading the story to himself he began reading the rest of the paper to her.

Cassie was manning the desk when she saw two men in suits appear at the door requesting to be buzzed in, unsure of who they were or their motive she chose to walk to the door to open it herself, "Can I help you?"

Two Police badges were quickly flashed at her, "I am Detective Lomas and this is Detective Wilson, we are here to discuss your Jane Doe."

"Oh, I see. Do come in." Stepping back she allowed them both inside before she made her way back to the desk, "So what can I help you with?"

"Well it is more what we can help you with. We believe that we have identified your 'Jane Doe', she is called Stephanie Marie McMahon and she is twenty three years old. The good news is that we believe that we have identified everybody on the plane, the bad news is that the fatalities on the plane included what we believe to be all of her family members. We are continuing to look for maybe a boyfriend or some other relative but once the news gets released to the media in an hour there may be news from members of the public but we are not hopeful."

That was not the news that Cassie had been hoping for, she was really hoping that they would find a family member or two so that they could come and visit to relieve Paul of the responsibility without the guilt of leaving her with nobody. "I see, that isn't the best news nor is it what I was hoping to hear."

"Sorry that I can't be of more help. I will keep you updated on what we find out. What room is she in?"

"Uh, just the one to the side here. Why?"

The officer didn't answer, he just moved to look through the window on the door, "Who is that sitting with her? How do they know her?"

"That's Paul, he doesn't know her but is just sitting with her whilst her family are found to try to aid her recovery by talking to her." The last thing she wanted to do was to get him in any sort of trouble and it wasn't looking promising now judging by the tone of the officer's voice.

"I see, I would like to talk to him so if you could bring him out here so we can eliminate him from our enquiries please."

"Eliminate him from your enquiries?! What do you think that he is part of?" Cassie was beginning to panic as it was sounding as if they thought that he had done something wrong when he was only trying to help.

Detective Lomas didn't like the way she was keeping him locked in the room, "Either you ask him to come out or we go in and drag him out. We have to do this as we do not know what has caused the accident so we have to talk to everybody that could possibly be involved in any way. I know you say that he isn't but we have to see this for ourselves."

Sighing heavily she hoped that this didn't cause any problems for Paul, "Okay. I will go and ask him to come out and talk to you."

With a deep breath she made her way through the door and inside the room to talk to Paul first so that he knew what he would be walking out to.


	3. Chapter 3

Cassie walked into the room to see Paul sat next to the bed reading out what sounded like the lonely hearts column with a spin and it brought a smile to her face but the smile soon faded when she thought about why she was here.

"What do you want now Cassie?" He heard somebody come into the room, he knew that it wouldn't be a Doctor as they had been past not too long ago to read the chart which meant it was only one person. He closed the paper and folded it before placing it on the bed and waiting for her answer.

"The Police are here, they want to speak to you about Stephanie."

The Police? Stephanie? Who the hell **was** Stephanie? "I'm going to be as polite as possible here but who? What?"

"Jane Doe's real name is Stephanie McMahon." She moved to the bottom of the bed to instinctively check the chart against her current vitals, "The Police need to ask you a few questions to make sure that you're not involved."

"Ohhhh." It all made sense now as to why the Police wanted to talk to him, "I guess I will go and get it over with because I have nothing to hide." Standing up he made his way towards the door but stopped briefly to look back at her, Stephanie suited her, he liked that name but now there was a name it looked like his time here was soon to come to an end and that did make him sad.

"My name's Paul Levesque, how can I help you?" As he walked out of the room he felt like he recognised the one man stood there, where he knew him from was a mystery though as he was never one to get in trouble with the law.

"Levesque? Why is that name ringing such a bell with me? Sorry, my name is Detective Lomas and this is my partner Detective Mason, we have been assigned the case of the crashed plane."

Before Paul could say anything the other officer spoke up, "Isn't Levesque the surname of the file that you were working on recently?"

Paul stood there feeling slightly awkward, "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Lola Levesque. God I remember that case, it hurt my heart so much that I don't think I will ever forget it." Detective Lomas had a feeling that everything had changed and nothing he thought he knew he actually knew, "Were you Lola's husband or are there two people with the same name? I don't mean to sound insulting, I am just trying to put pieces of so many puzzles together."

"Lola was my wife. Somebody from the station has actually been trying to get in contact with me regarding her killer, I have been avoiding their calls though so please don't tell them that I'm here, I really don't want to hear that he has been let off." Paul had dealt with her death and didn't want to emotionally be taken back to the days following the accident where he found out how it had happened.

"It wasn't actually bad news they were calling you with, I should know as I have handled the case from the second the accident happened. I will respect your decision though and when we get back to the station I will tell them to leave you alone."

Immediately he heard that the man in front of him had been involved since the accident he found himself wanting to know more. He had seen pictures and he needed to know that she wasn't in pain when they found her, "Do you mean that you were at the scene?"

"I was, I controlled the scene from the beginning and handled the case until the final files were submitted to upgrade the charges. Shit, I'm sorry you said that you didn't want to know."

She had been hovering around in the general area and now Cassie was getting the feeling that they needed privacy, "Sorry to interrupt but if you want to go and sit in the room behind the desk for some privacy you can."

Paul needed that interruption so that he could wrap his head around what had just been said. There was so much new information coming his way that it was a lot to take in, "I would appreciate it please."

The Police officers didn't mind so all three men followed Cassie as she led them towards the quiet room where they could be alone.

Once they were seated it gave Paul an opportunity to press for more details, "What do you mean the charges have been upgraded?"

"It was the most satisfying moment of my Police career when I was able to gather enough evidence to be able to upgrade the charges to causing death by dangerous driving, DUI, a charge of reckless driving along with driving on a suspended license and driving without insurance. I know it won't bring your wife back but hopefully it will keep him off the streets for a long time." Detective Lomas had no idea if that was going to help the man sat across from him at all but he hoped it did. "Your wife was an amazing woman, so strong and determined despite the circumstances that she was in she definitely had an impact on those who were around her that day."

Maybe ignoring the calls had been a bad thing because those charges were so much more than what he had initially been told that the driver would be charged with, it didn't bring Lola back but if it helped other families not to have to go through this pain then it was something. "My wife was so determined and so stubborn, I don't think I have ever met a person like her before."

"I have to agree with you there. I was travelling with some uniform officers when the call came in about the accident and as we were a minute away we were the first to respond. As the senior officer on scene I had to take control and ended up sitting with your wife as we waited for the ambulance and fire crew to arrive to tend to her and to cut her free. In most situations you'll find that somebody seriously injured and trapped in their car will be unconscious but she was so determined to have you be with her as soon as possible that she clung to consciousness as tight as she could. She made sure to give your name, contact details and a message for you incase she was unconscious when you got to her and I had to read it all back to her to make sure that it was all correct."

He couldn't help but laugh at that information, so many times he had been forced to repeat things back to her as she never trusted him to get it right the first time. "When she did that to me she always said that it wasn't me she didn't trust to get it right, it was the whole male population. The hardest part about that day is that I am left with the guilt of feeling like it is my fault that she got into that accident. The day before my car wouldn't start and was towed to the shop and she had just dropped me at the shop to pick it up and she was on her way back to work."

Detective Mason had seen this before and it was the worst part of his job, seeing the guilt that loved ones were left with as a result of the actions of others. "Don't feel guilty, this wasn't your fault, it wasn't your wife's fault, it was the fault of the guy who will hopefully rot in jail for a long time. Celebrate your wife's life, don't dwell on her death."

"Were you a motivational speaker in a previous life?" He had mourned her death months ago, when the Doctors told him that the chances of her surviving were slim he had said goodbye to her although he never gave up hope that she would survive, he was just left with this guilt that he couldn't shake.

"It was the advice given to me at thirteen years old when my Father was run over by a hit and run driver on his way to pick me up from my friend's house because I had lost track of time and had missed my curfew. That's why I got joined this Police Force, I want to make an impact on other people's lives, I want to do something positive for the community and in a strange way as a Detective it gives me more opportunity to do that." He may not have been involved with the actual case but he had read all about it and his contribution could hopefully be a small pearl of wisdom to make sure that another life isn't wasted unnecessarily.

For Paul this was going around in a full circle, they wanted to talk to him about him being here at the hospital, they had moved to talk about his late wife instead and now they were back to the reason that they were sat here, the plane crash victim. "It's funny how you talk about doing something positive, that is what I'm trying to do right now."

"About that, how do you know Stephanie McMahon?"

Paul stared at Detective Mason not know what to say, "Who?" He had forgotten that he had already been told her name by Cassie.

"I'm sorry, Stephanie McMahon is the patient you have apparently been sitting with. It has taken us a day to be able to recover and identify the bodies from the plane."

"To be honest I have never heard the name Stephanie McMahon before. The only reason that I have been sitting with her is because I came by to pick something up when she was brought in, as I had been told when my wife was in a coma that talking to her might help I thought that I would offer to sit with her whilst you guys found her family. Any progress with that?"

Both Officers exchanged a look not knowing who should be the one that answered him.

"Any time today would be nice please."

Detective Mason decided to be the one to tell him what little they knew, "We think that her close family died in the crash. We are hoping that when we speak with the press soon that somebody will come forward but until then she has nobody. Don't feel obligated to continue to sit with her though, somebody will come forward."

"Or they won't." As much as he wouldn't wish this on anybody it would be good for him as it might help him find himself as a person again, "I don't mind sitting with her, I can't go back to work for two weeks so it is some way for me to hopefully be useful and if it helps her recovery then all the better."

"That is your decision to make along with that of the Doctors and Nurses here. We will keep in contact with the hospital so will keep you updated with anything we find out. I would ask you to do the same but as you don't know her it would be pointless."

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be more use but I genuinely have never heard the name before." Paul knew that it was a private jet so her family must be rich so maybe when he got home tonight Google would tell him some more about her.

All of the Police business that they had come to the hospital for had been completed so the Officers hurried off to the news conference across town.

When the Officers had left Paul made his way back in to sit with Stephanie. He didn't know if her vitals had been checked when he was away but he was hoping they had because as he sat down he noticed that the numbers showing on the heart monitor were lower than when he had left.

Sat there beside her he took hold of her hand as his mind drifted to thoughts of Lola. He had learned more about the accident and it did bring him some comfort to know that right up until she lost consciousness she was the woman that he had married, he just wished that he hadn't lost her at all.

A hand was placed on his shoulder and he jumped, "What the hell?"

"I'm sorry, I was talking to you and you weren't answering." Cassie felt guilty for scaring him but she was doubting if he should be there now if he was spaced out and jumpy, "Maybe you should go home today?"

"I'm okay, everything is fine so I don't need to leave." The last thing he needed right now was to be alone, here he was useful but he wasn't sure how much longer that would last so he would prefer to help as much as he could whilst he had the chance.

"Are you sure? You seem out of sorts."

"I'm fine, stop asking me that!" Immediately after he snapped at her he regretted it and felt guilty, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. The thing is that I really need to be here right now, I need another way to occupy my mind so that I don't sit at home and just think about what the officers said about Lola. Please don't make me go home."

Her shoulders sagged as she sighed heavily, the last thing she wanted to do was to leave him alone when he was acting like this but she still didn't think that it was the best place for him. Reluctantly she caved and gave him what he wanted, "Fine, you can stay but only if you promise to leave if it is too much."

"Thank you. Now back to your real job that isn't babysitting me. I believe that her heart rate has dropped, not significantly but enough that I noticed it."

"Okay thanks for telling me, I will check her vitals." She didn't want to admit to him that her heart rate dropping was potentially a bad sign but hopefully it was only a small blip.

Moving around him Cassie began to check the chart and take her vitals to see how she was really shaping up. Most of her vitals were the same but her heart rate was quite a bit lower than the last time it had been checked but hopefully it didn't mean anything. "Okay that's me done here. You know how to call people if there is an emergency."

Why was she acting so suspiciously? Why was she reminding him how to call people in an emergency? "Is something wrong?"

"Not at the moment there isn't but this is ICU and anything can happen." She was quick to leave the room before he could quiz her further.

"That woman sure knows how to make me suspicious." Glancing at the heart monitor screen he noticed that it hadn't gone up nor had it gone down so that was a positive.

Paul moved and perched himself on the edge of the bed before he placed Stephanie's hands on her stomach. She looked so calm and so peaceful now, he didn't want to be her when she woke up because they believed that she had lost everybody she loved and would be alone, he didn't know how somebody could possibly cope with all of that loss.

His attention was immediately drawn to the heart monitor when the beeps became less regular and he soon noticed that her measured heart rate was steadily dropping. Leaning forward he slammed his hand on the emergency call button behind the bed before he raced to the door, "Somebody help."

Cassie came racing along the corridor wheeling the defibrillator followed by two Doctors and another Nurse just as the beeping stopped and became steady, "She's flat lining."

He could only stand there helplessly watching them rush into the room with instructions flying between them before the door was shut in his face.


	4. Chapter 4

One minute turned into five minutes, five minutes turned into ten minutes, ten minutes turned into fifteen minutes. Now here he was still sat outside of the room more than fifteen minutes after all of the Doctors had rushed inside to try and save Stephanie's life.

When the door was suddenly opened he jumped to his feet upon seeing the Doctor and Cassie, "How is she?"

"Alive, for now. I will let Nurse Alexander explain it to you as I have a few urgent calls to make."

"Thanks." His attention turned from the Doctor as he walked off to Cassie who was still stood there, "And? What does 'for now' mean?"

Ushering him to take a seat she sat down beside him, "It means that we are not certain what the cause of her heart rate dropping is so anything could happen. We think she may have a bleed on the brain so now that she is somewhat stable she will be going for an emergency brain scan and then potentially she will have to have surgery."

"Oh. Can I see her?"

"Sure, we will be outside of anything happens."

Cassie proceeded to walk into the room and a few moments later everybody walked out leaving the room empty for him.

Nerves gripped his stomach as he entered the room not sure exactly what he was going to be faced with but much to his relief she looked the same as when he left her. Standing beside the bed he took hold of her hand, "I'm pleased to see that you are still fighting."

He didn't feel like sitting beside the bed so sat on the edge of the bed keeping hold of her hand, "You need to keep fighting okay? You are way too young to die, you have so much that you have yet to do in life that you can't give up."

It hurt so much sitting beside her, it reminded him so much of his wife's situation that it was overwhelming. Before she nearly died he hadn't thought it was serious but now he knew that it was serious but he didn't have the heart to walk away before it hurt too much if she didn't make it.

Paul hadn't been sat there longer than a few minutes when a couple of porters walked into the room along with a Nurse to take Stephanie for a scan.

Once she was wheeled out of the room he stepped outside to find Cassie to get details, "What is happening now once she has had the scan?"

"They may bring her back here or they may just take her straight to prep her for surgery."

"Oh."

"Why don't you go and grab a coffee and something to eat and I'll let you know what is happening when I know? I'm due a break in about thirty minutes so I will come and find you." The way that his eyes were so empty she knew that he was going to need a sympathetic ear and she was happy to be that for him.

"Sure, thank you. I will go and get a coffee and will sit in the concourse so I'm easy to find." He tried to smile but he doubted that it reached his eyes.

"I'll see you in thirty minutes, ish anyway depending on how things go here. Now go and relax." Shooing him out of the door she made sure that the door was shut behind him before she turned to the Doctor that had just appeared, "How long until you'll know what's going on with Stephanie?"

"The Neurosurgeon has cleared his list for the morning, luckily it was only clinic so he has had his Juniors take over and anybody important will be rescheduled if she needs the surgery, so he is currently sat in the Radiographer's room to look at the images as soon as they come in. I briefly explained what is going on with that guy and he said he will have somebody call up asap so that you can tell him without giving details."

She knew that she had slightly breached protocol by telling Paul as much as she had but Cassie couldn't keep the seriousness from him, not so soon after he lost his wife. "Thanks. I've told him I'll tell him what's going on when I'm on my break, I just hope that it is good news."

The local news was currently playing on the television as Paul sat down with his coffee but he didn't pay too much attention to it, that was until he heard them throw to a live press conference about the plane crash.

His eyes were glued to the screen along with almost everybody else in the concourse. As they spoke about the sadness of the seven deaths and how only one person survived, there was an audible gasp amongst the people gathered there at that news. "We are in desperate need for anybody who is related to, or was close to the McMahon family who were on that plane that day to come forward. We have so many unanswered questions so anybody who can offer anything on the family we urge you to come forward immediately please. Our sincerest condolences go out to the family and friends of those who were killed in the crash and we won't close this case until we have all of the answers that we need."

There were murmurs all around from people who felt bad for the "surviving member" of the family but it just made Paul angry, feeling sorry for her wasn't going to bring her heart rate back up, it wasn't going to fix her broken bones or bring her family back to her. He was just about to get up when somebody sat down beside him, "You were easy to find. I'm going to get myself a coffee and some cake and I'll be back so don't move."

Before she could get up he grabbed her arm, "Stay here. I want a refill so I will go and get them. How do you take your coffee and what cake would you like?"

"Black with two sugars today please. I'll have any cake going, surprise me. Do you want me to pay you now or when you come back?"

"It's on me. Don't argue though, it is only a coffee and a cake, it won't make me bankrupt." Before she could argue he left to get the coffee and cakes.

She didn't need to be Einstein or his best friend to know that he was taking the Stephanie situation badly so she wasn't looking forward to breaking the news to him.

When he returned after a couple of minutes he sat down before he passed her a coffee, "I got two donuts and no, before you ask you don't get to eat them both."

"That's mean." She couldn't help but laughing at that though, she wasn't one to eat multiple donuts at one time anyway.

"What's the verdict?" As much as she may have wanted to dance around the subject he just wasn't in the mood to, he needed to keep things straight up and honest.

"She's being prepped for surgery as we speak. They found a small bleed on the brain so need to get in and get it fixed. I shouldn't have told you that much so don't let on that you know more than that please."

That was not the news he wanted to hear as that was serious stuff. "How long will the surgery be?"

"I don't know, probably at least a few hours. You may aswell go home for the day Paul, there is a chance that you wouldn't be allowed back to see her until much later so don't waste your time just sitting around here waiting." There was an ulterior motive to having him leave, she was hoping that if he got out of the hospital he would forget about Stephanie for a while and clear his head and if the worst did happen he would be in a slightly better place to deal with it.

"If I called to check on her later would anybody actually tell me anything though?" He didn't want to leave and then not to find out how she was, he wouldn't sleep.

"I'll make sure to note her file that if you call to check on her they are allowed to tell you how she is doing but no diagnoses or anything medical." It was sounding positive to her that he was leaving and that was what she wanted to hear.

"Thanks, I'll have my donut and finish my coffee and then I'll head home. Do you think she'll make it?"

If it had been any other patient she would have said that she wasn't sure if she would make it but after she had already survived a plane crash that killed seven she must have been made of strong stuff. "I would rate her chances. I don't know all of the medical stuff behind it but I think she has a better chance than most would."

Silence fell over them as they both tucked into their donut and finished their coffee before Cassie had to go back to work, "Okay I need to go back to work but try to have a good day and relax Paul, she'll be okay."

"I'll try. Bye Cassie."

The two separated with her going back to the ICU and him making his way out to the parking lot to get his car to go home.

When he got home Paul sat down in front of his laptop and turned it on, now to see if he could find out exactly who she was.

Ten minutes of research later and he actually felt like he was getting somewhere and knew something about her. From what he could find her parents owned a production company housed in New York and they were doing pretty well for themselves, her brother was married to his childhood sweetheart and he worked for the production company whilst his wife was a freelance journalist. The details on Stephanie were minimal but were taken from an interview her Father had done a few months previous. All he knew was that she was twenty three, she had graduated from College about a year prior to the interview and she had begun working for the company on the ground level. He didn't yet know what her family exactly did as a production company or how integral they were but he did know that they would be be missing all four members of the McMahon family for a while.

After thirty more minutes research he finally knew exactly what the production company were responsible for and he was amazed that he knew some of their work and really enjoyed it. Now that he knew more about her background he definitely felt like he was qualified to sit with her and try to aid her recovery in some way.

Closing his laptop he moved to sit on the couch, as much as he was trying to block thoughts of her from his mind she just kept creeping back in. He looked over at the clock on the mantelpiece and groaned, it was only just after two in the afternoon and there was no way that anybody would know anything yet so he needed to find a way to occupy himself. The gym sounded good, actually the gym sounded really good right now and he could really use a workout as it would be a major distraction for an hour.

He rose from the couch and went to go in search of his gym bag, it had been a while since he had actually had a proper workout so this was long overdue.

The Neurosurgeon walked into the operating theatre scrubbed up and ready to fix this patient, "Okay people we need to keep a close eye on her blood pressure and heart monitor as she has already almost died once today. I want to keep at least one member of that family alive if I can do make sure you do your job thoroughly please."

Almost three hours later he was sinking back into the couch after a long and gruelling workout, his body hated him but it had definitely cleared his mind and he was feeling better for it. He didn't know how early was too early to give the hospital a call to find out if Stephanie was out of surgery yet but he was going to give it a shot. Paul still remembered the number from when Lola had been in hospital so he was able to dial it without even having to look it up.

The surgery had taken four and a half hours and they then transferred Stephanie straight back to ICU as they wanted there to be as little disruption as possible. As Cassie hooked up all of the machines again the Neurosurgeon walked in, "Oh I'm sorry, I thought that she would have been settled already. I was just passing and thought that I would check on her vitals."

"I'm sorry Sir, there was a minor delay bringing her up from the operating theatre but I will be thirty seconds and then I was going to run her obs."

Waving his hand dismissively the surgeon picked up her file from the bottom of the bed, "Yes yes, just do your job and make sure my hard work doesn't go to waste and she dies."

With her back to the surgeon Cassie didn't hesitate in rolling her eyes, as if she was in a habit of letting patients die. She made the final adjustments and double checked that everything was working correctly before she took a step back and took the file from the surgeon's offered hand and began taking notes.

Paul had been put on hold five minutes ago and was still waiting to find out what had happened with Stephanie, he was beginning to think that she had died and they were trying to find somebody to tell him. When he was finally taken off hold he breathed a sigh of relief, "Any news?"

"I'm so sorry for the delay, she has just been brought back to the unit so I actually didn't know any details on her status so needed to talk to her Nurse. All I can tell you as you aren't family is that the surgery was a success and she has been brought back to the unit to begin her recovery."

"Thank you. I will be by in the morning to see her." Ending the call he placed the phone back in the holder before he collapsed back on the couch, he was so relieved that she was alive and doing okay but now he needed to do everything that he could possibly do to help her get better.

Cassie walked out of the room stifling a yawn just as the Nurse behind the desk put the phone down, "What did he say Austin?"

Looking up at her he shook his head at how tired she looked, "That he'll be by in the morning to see her. Do you think the relationship is wise?"

"She has nobody, he feels lost, like he has nobody and like this gives him a purpose. If I could change things I would but you know he probably saved her life today. I'm not saying that we should exploit him but he enjoys it so who are you to judge? It's not like he is marrying her, he is just talking to her whilst she is in a coma. Now if you will excuse me I have a home to go to and a bed that is calling my name, I worked the overtime that I was asked to and now I am leaving. I will see you tomorrow or something."

Austin couldn't help but enter Stephanie's room as soon as Cassie had left, picking up her file he began to flip through the pages and felt guilty for saying what he had after reading what was written, that short amount of extra warning that they had received could have been the difference between her living and her dying. On instinct before he left the room he checked the numbers on the screen, "You are one lucky young lady right now, I don't know how you are still alive or why you have a stranger who cares so much about you but I hope you pull through so you can continue to be a medical miracle."

He was just putting the finishing touches to his dinner when his phone beeped, reluctantly reaching across the counter he picked it up and lit up the screen:

 _Mom and Dad told me what you're doing. Are you crazy?_

Paul carefully put the phone back down on the counter and picked up his plate, after the day he had had he was not in the mood to be lectured by his sister.


	5. Chapter 5

Arriving at the hospital the next morning Paul could barely keep his eyes open, having had in total maybe an hours sleep he needed more coffee to keep his eyes open.

A quick pit stop at Starbucks later and he was now walking in to ICU with a large coffee and the paper in his hands. "Good morning. Can I go and see Stephanie?"

"Not with the coffee you can't. We can't risk you tipping it over any machines."

There was no way that he could go without his coffee, "What if I promised to keep my coffee far away from the machines and anything really important?"

Austin did not look impressed, he was actually highly unimpressed that he wasn't listening straight off, "Cassie may be lenient with you but I am not Cassie and I won't be bending the rules for you."

"I'm not asking you to bend the rules, I was just asking if it was possible if I promised to keep the coffee away from the machines. I'll just sit out here and drink my coffee and then go in." He was too tired to deal with a cranky Nurse so just took a seat outside Stephanie's door and began to drink his iced coffee.

Opening the door the Doctor that had come face to face with Paul on his first stay stopped briefly when he saw him sat outside, "Is Stephanie okay?"

"Huh?" He was sure that he was being spoken to but he wasn't sure who by. Looking around him his eyes settled on the Doctor as he walked inside, "Were you talking to me?"

"I was. I just wondered why you were sat there?"

He lifted his coffee up to show what was in his hand, "I'm apparently not allowed to take this near the machines so I have to sit here to drink it before I go in as I really need the coffee."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Seriously? Who told you that trash? You're a grown adult who can manage not to tip their drink so as long as you don't place it on top of the machines or kick it over then take it in with you and go and sit with her."

"But the Nurse told me I couldn't."

"They're a Nurse, I'm a Doctor, I can overrule them." Briefly pausing he chose to be more serious, "In truth, the longer that you can sit with her and talk to her the better. I was going through her file earlier and read about what happened yesterday so she really needs you."

If he was being told he could go in he wasn't going to argue with them, "Yesterday was a very scary day, I'm just pleased that she pulled through. If I get told off for this can I give your name as the person who told me to do it?"

"Don't worry, I'll speak to them now and tell them that I told you to go in. By the way, I'm Doctor Keegan, just for future reference.

"It's nice to meet you Doctor Keegan, I'm Paul Levesque. I'm going to go and sit with her now though, have a good day." Separating from the Doctor he quickly got up and entered the room before he changed his mind.

The sight of Stephanie with her head bandaged was a shock to the system but he tried to push that out of his mind as he pulled a chair over and took a seat, "Good morning, it's nice to see you're still alive and well today."

He placed the newspaper on the bed so that he could hold his coffee securely to make sure that he didn't drop it, "So I Googled you yesterday as I knew nothing about you and I hoped that it would tell me something. Google tells me that your family own some sort of production company, I've heard of them and really liked what I have seen. When you wake up maybe you could take me on a tour of the facilities, that would be a lot of fun."

His one hand left the coffee and moved to hold hers on the bed, "We'll get through this together."

A few days had passed since Stephanie's operation and she was doing well, her blood pressure and heart rate had remained stable and although Paul didn't know exactly what the future held he was hopeful.

Despite how happy he was that she was doing well he was feeling bad, he had been avoiding his sister a lot. Since her first text she had sent him a few more and had left him a number of voice mails and he hadn't returned any of them.

Lynn was concerned about her brother when he didn't return her calls or texts so she took a long lunch and went off in search of him.

She took a look through the window of the door leading into the ICU but didn't spot her brother so she knocked on the door and waited.

Cassie peered at the door in confusion but buzzed them in anyway. The door opened and she spotted a familiar, but not terribly familiar, woman walked through the door, "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for my brother, I think he may be here. His name is Paul Levesque." Lynn prayed that he was here anyway, if he wasn't she didn't know where he would be as she had already tried his home and he wasn't there.

It was only when she mentioned her brother did she truly recognise the other woman, "Paul is here, he is sat in Lola's old room."

"Thanks. Can I go in?" Lynn was hopeful that she could and if she couldn't she would just ask her to bring him out as she couldn't wait any longer to see him.

Cassie could see the desperation in her eyes so no matter how she felt about the other woman possibly convincing him to no longer come by she wasn't going to stand in their way, "Of course, you know where he is."

"Thank you." Smiling at the other woman she walked past her to go and talk to her brother.

It became the norm for Paul to sit next to Stephanie's bed and hold her hand so that was what he was currently doing. He had long since finished reading the newspaper to her so now he was just passing time with her.

"So my sister is probably going to be so mad at me right now, I've been avoiding her like mad but there is no way that she is going to let this slide. I love my sister to death but there is no way that she is going to allow me to hide from her forever but there is no way that I can handle another lecture. Nobody gets how much I need this and how much I need you."

"I want to try to."

"Holy shit." Paul jumped in his seat immediately dropping the hold of Stephanie's hand and spun around to face the door to see his sister stood there, "What are you doing here?"

"Well when you're not returning my texts or answering or returning any of my calls I am going to come and find you. How are you doing?"

Slowly standing up he wasn't sure what to make of her visit, "I'm good, you?"

"I'm fine, I'm better now that I am able to talk to you for myself but I really shouldn't have had to come here to talk to you."

"I know, I'm sorry." He looked down at the floor unable to meet her gaze as he felt so guilty.

As she looked at her brother Lynn could see that he was different but it scared her that this strange woman had such a control over him and she wasn't even awake. "So is this the reason you won't return my calls?"

"This is Stephanie, she was in a plane crash last Thursday and had a bleed on the brain on Friday and nearly died." He didn't intend to blurt it out like that but it was done now.

An alarm in her mind immediately went off when he said the words 'plane crash' as she had been following it in the news. "As in Stephanie McMahon whose family died in said plane crash?"

"The one and only." Paul felt kind of guilty discussing this near Stephanie so was going to suggest they stepped outside but at that moment the Doctor appeared in the doorway.

"Oh my, I was not expecting to see so many people in the room. Could you maybe give me a minute please Paul?"

"Sure thing Doc, we'll be outside." Ushering his sister out of the door he motioned to the seats beside the door, "It looks like you have my undivided attention so take a seat."

The fact that he was so familiar with the staff, even a Doctor that she had never seen before, told her that he was practically living at the hospital. "So what exactly is going on here?"

"Nothing Lynn, really it is nothing. I can't go back to work for another week and a half so I have a lot of free time on my hands and I am using it productively."

"Oh, 'productively', is that what you're calling it? Where are the rest of her family or her friends?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. The last time I spoke to the Police was yesterday and they said that they had heard nothing from people who knew the family so basically they have abandoned Stephanie."

Now it made some sense as to why he wasn't abandoning her, she literally had nobody else but that didn't mean that she had to like him being here. "What happens when you go back to work if she is still in a coma? Are you going to take more time off for her or are you going to come here from work or what?"

They were some interesting questions but when he wasn't taking his life further than one day at a time he wasn't exactly in the position to answer her. Rubbing his face wearily he sighed, "I don't know. I'm still kind of taking life one day at a time so I haven't exactly thought about what the future may hold. Right now all I care is that she is stable, maybe even getting better, and I feel like I am doing good in somebody's life, I couldn't help Lola, even though as her husband I should have been able to, but I genuinely feel like I am doing some good here."

She knew that it all came back to Lola, Lynn just knew it. It took her a moment to decide exactly what to say in response as he was opening up to her and she didn't want to make him angry, "So because you couldn't help Lola you want to help Stephanie, I kind of get that but where does it end? Does it end when you go back to work? What about when she wakes up? Or is it when she gets out of hospital? When Paul? I know you said that you are taking it one day at a time but you really need to decide exactly where your devotion to her ends."

Much to Paul's relief he didn't have to answer that as the Doctor appeared again, "Just so you know Paul we are going to take Stephanie down for a scan at some point today."

"What? Why? She seemed like she was doing so well."

"That is why. Stephanie does seem to be making progress so I want to have her brain scanned to see if the swelling had subsided because if it has I want to reduce the sedation and hopefully allow her to come out of the coma."

"Wow." Paul didn't know what to say, he was lost, so very lost right now.

Lynn looked over at her brother who looked shocked and wondered if he really knew what he was getting himself in to with this. She could appreciate that he wanted to help but there was helping and then there was just getting in out of your depth and she had a bad feeling that he was out of his depth and there was nothing that she could do or say that would bring him back to shore.

"I have to go back to work now but take care of yourself will you and stop shutting is out."

"I'll stop shutting you out of you stop giving me lectures, I know what I am doing."

The words 'do you' were on the the tip of her tongue but she didn't say them so that he didn't shut her out. "Just call me or text me now and again please."

That was one thing that he was willing to do so he hugged his sister, "Of course. I'll talk to you later."

Slowly pulling away she nodded her head, "You'd better." Turning around she made her way out of ICU to go back to work.

Once his sister had finally left he stood up to go and sit back with Stephanie, he still much preferred her company as she didn't talk back and lecture him.

Despite it being lunchtime and having promised Cassie that he would take breaks and eat properly after his sister's visit he wasn't in the mood to eat.

Cassie hadn't seen Paul leave so she took it upon herself to make sure that he had, walking into the room she couldn't help but shake her head, "It's lunchtime, you should be taking a break."

"And so should you, you're always working."

"It's called overtime and covering shifts." She stuck her tongue out at him before she went back to being concerned, "I thought that you would have gone for lunch with your sister."

"Ugh no, I don't need a lecture whilst I am eating. She says she understands but she doesn't and I just don't have the patience for it. I know she only cares and all of that but just leave me alone. I'll go and eat when Stephanie goes for her scan but can I ask you something about that?"

"Sure." There was only a short distance between them but she wanted to close it so there wasn't as much chance of them being overheard.

"What happens if there is bad news in the scan?"

"I never told you this but the Doctor isn't expecting bad news, he is either expecting good news or there to be no change so there really isn't a worst case scenario that is worse than she's not healing quickly."

It was good news that they weren't expecting her to have gotten worse but he wasn't sure that he could deal with it if she wasn't healing. He wanted to believe that she was healing and she was going to survive and be able to do everything for herself again. "So if they aren't expecting anything bad to show what does it mean if she is getting better?"

He was asking a surprising number of questions about it which made her believe that he was thinking of walking away. "If she is getting better then depending on how far her recovery has come they will probably reduce the sedation to bring her out of the coma so that she can slowly return to a normal life once her injuries are healed."

"The Doctor did say something about reducing the sedation but I couldn't ask anything in front of my sister. If they do reduce the sedation how long would it take for her to regain consciousness?"

"Why? Do you want to be gone before she wakes up?"

"No, I just wondered if she would wake up before I went back to work. I thought that if I stayed around until she woke up and then she can tell me to go away herself or if she would like me to continue to visit her whilst she is in hospital I could do that. I know that she has no family so I don't feel like it is fair to completely abandon her unless it is her choice." His sister's words had played on Paul's mind and whilst she was lecturing him he had thought about it and this was the best that he had come up with.

Cassie knew that she shouldn't feel relieved that he was going to stick around but she was however there was a question that was at the front of her mind, "I can't tell you how long it will take her to wake up, it will depend on how fast they lower the sedation and how fast she comes out of it. What if she wanted you to continue to visit her though?"

For Paul it was a good question, "Umm, well you know I would be happy to continue to visit her if she found it useful, I might even find out about the real her and not what is written on the internet, granted that is very little information."

"I would love to know more about her too, I am so used to finding out about the patients from their families that it is strange just having a person and a name and that's it. Let's just take it one step at a time and see what the scan shows and go from there."

He could agree to that, "I agree to that. I'll let you go back to work and I will sit quietly here and wait for her to go for a scan and then I promise that I will go and get something to eat."

"Good, I would hate to have to kick you out and deny you entry back in." Her tone may have been light-hearted but she would not hesitate to do that.

As soon as Cassie had left he turned his attention back to Stephanie, "I need this more than anybody knows, so much so that I almost don't want you to have gotten better enough for them to reduce your sedation. I know this makes me a horrible person but you have no idea what it is like to lose your significant other to a drink driver and the sympathy you get and how people act like you are a fragile little child or you are going to have a breakdown at any second. I may have come to terms with my wife's death but there is no way of coming to terms with how people treat me or changing it but here I get to hide away from them all and mostly get treated like a normal human being." Sighing heavily he fell silent and just rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb as he waited for them to take her for another scan.


	6. Chapter 6

Stephanie wasn't gone long for her scan so Paul was surprised when he came back from eating his sandwich to find her already back in her room which meant no waiting around so went straight back in.

When the Doctor next entered the room he had the scans in his hand. Silently he went through the notes on the bottom of her bed and alternated between looking at the scans and reading the notes. Eventually he put the notes back and left the room as quietly as he had entered it.

Paul had sat there watching the Doctor desperately hoping that he would give him some news but when he just left it told him nothing. "Looks like it is just the two of us again. I want there to be good news for you, you have more than earned some of that and so have I."

Very little time passed before there was a knock at the door, turning his head he forced a smile at the head Doctor, "What's up Doc? You're not kicking me out are you?"

A soft laugh passed her lips as she entered the room, "You should be so lucky. I actually wanted to talk to you about the scan results if you have a minute?"

"I have all of the time in the world. In here or out there?"

"Here's fine." It didn't go unnoticed to her the way that he kept hold of Stephanie's hand and it hurt her heart to watch the two of them together because she feared that this may not be the best outcome at the end of it all. "I have looked at her scan, I have also had the Neurosurgeon look at them to get a second opinion and we are both of the same opinion. Stephanie's scan showed a significant change in the swelling in her brain and the general feeling is that she is well enough now to reduce the sedation so that she can come around."

He couldn't help but squeeze her hand gently at that news. "That is such good news for her that she is getting better. When will all of this begin and how long will it take for her to come around from the sedation?"

"It will start immediately but it will be slow progress as we don't want to rush it and we want to make sure that she is reacting well to it. I would guess that it will take at least three days before she comes around but it could be less but it could be more. Each patient is an individual and I really cannot give you any definite information."

"Okay, thank you."

The next few days for Paul were spent doing a lot of hoping.

As the days rolled by he began to start stressing about the fact that there didn't seem to be any improvement in her condition and she didn't seem to be coming around.

When Cassie arrived in work after a couple of days off she was immediately pulled to the side, "What's wrong? I have literally just arrived so I know nothing about nobody."

"It's Paul, he has been sitting with Stephanie all day every day and is progressively looking more stressed and we are worried about him. He's not asking any questions so we don't know if he knows enough or what."

Sighing heavily she shook her head, "Thanks for that, I'll go and talk to him. How is Stephanie coming along?"

"There have so far been no signs of her coming out of the coma but you know, anything new can happen."

She wished that she could tell Paul when she would come around as that was probably going to be the first words out of his mouth. "I'd better go and talk to him then, that's probably why he is so stressed."

As her colleague went back to work she made her way into Stephanie's room, "Good morning Paul." If he was going to ask questions she needed to familiarise herself with the notes from the past few days so she moved to the end of the bed and picked them up before she began to flick through them.

"Hey Cassie." It was good to see somebody he felt comfortable asking questions of, "So how is she doing really?"

"Good actually, her notes look positive. Have there been any twitches or anything?"

With a frown he shook his head, "Not whilst I have been here. That's bad news isn't it?"

It was clear at this point that he needed some reassurance which she could understand really, "It's not bad news, these things take time so now it really could happen whenever she feels like waking up. I've got to get on but just believe in her okay and make sure that you take breaks."

"Yes Mom."

She couldn't help but snigger as she left the room to go back to work.

It was after lunch and Paul was holding Stephanie's hand and absently rubbing the back of it with his thumb as he told her about his sister's early love life, it was nothing but amusement and drama, especially the story from when she was eight and she went to the school dance with her then boyfriend only to find out that he had three other girlfriends.

He was just coming to the end of the story of when she went on a date at fifteen, missed her curfew and was trying to climb back through her bedroom window but fell from the tree and broke her arm when he felt movement in his hand. His heart leapt into his throat at the thought of her moving and waking up at last.

Eyes glued to her hand Paul gently squeezed her hand to see if there would be any reaction and he quickly felt her squeezing his hand back. Diving out of his seat to the door he frantically looked around, "Somebody, anybody, Stephanie's moving."

Before he knew it he was being rushed out of the room for the Doctors and Nurses.

Anxiously pacing up and down they seemed to be taking a long time to make sure that she was okay and he was worried. The second the door opened he stopped and faced it relieved to see the Doctor looking relaxed, "What's the news?"

"Good news actually, she is beginning to respond so we have taken her off the ventilator completely and she now has just an oxygen tube under her nose. I don't know when she will wake up completely but it should be soon."

"Thanks Doc." He had the biggest smile on his face as Cassie walked out of the room, this really had been worth spending his time with her because she was getting better.

She saw how happy he was and it felt nice to be giving him good news for a change, "She's all yours. Let us know if she starts to open her eyes."

"Of course." He made his way past her and into the room, this time he sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand in his again, "You're so close to being back with us, please don't make me wait too long to get to know you."

Hours passed where he didn't leave her side and there had been no more improvement but now it was starting to get late so he needed to leave before he got thrown out. "I guess you're not feeling the idea of waking up today whilst I am here but that's okay, you did move so I know you're getting better. Hopefully I will come by tomorrow and you will be wide awake or will have woken and are sleeping off the sedation. Take care Stephanie and I will see you tomorrow."

He raised her hand to his mouth and gently kissed the back of her hand, he didn't know why he did it but it did. Standing up he placed her hand on the bed and was just moving his fingers from beneath it when she gripped his finger, he gasped in shock but looked to her face for signs of her waking and was surprised to see her eyes fluttering, she was going to wake up right now and he needed to get somebody.

For the second time that day he rushed to the door almost running Cassie over in the process as she came to check on her, "She's waking up, she gripped my finger again and her eyes are fluttering."

"Stay with her a minute, do not leave her side whilst I get a Doctor."

He didn't need to be told twice and was soon at Stephanie's side waiting and watching as she struggled to open her eyes.

The Doctor had just walked into the room when her eyes open and she began blinking rapidly trying to focus on her surroundings.

"Stephanie, it's so good to see you back with us. How are you feeling?"

Who was he? Where on earth was she? Nothing about her surroundings made sense and she didn't like it. Despite her body screaming in pain she tried to get away from the Doctor, "Go away, I don't know you." Her voice may be croaky and it may hurt to talk but she needed him to go away.

The sight before him was not something that Paul had prepared himself for so he was going to get out of there, "I'm going to go now. Take care of yourself Stephanie."

That voice, she knew that voice. "Wait!" Reaching her hand out to him she used what little voice she had left for now to make one request, "Stay."

Surprised by the request he did contemplate leaving anyway but she seemed so scared it would probably be cruel to do so. "Only on the condition that you lie back in bed properly, you shouldn't be moving around like that."

She kept her hand reaching out towards him and her bleary eyes locked on him as the woman in the room helped her move.

He waited until Cassie helped her get situated back in bed properly again before he moved to stand by the bed and held her hand gently, "Is this better for you?"

Stephanie nodded her head slowly as she gripped his hand tightly, her eyes were getting heavy but she didn't want him to leave her alone whoever he may be.

The Doctor could see that she was getting tired but he wanted to ask her one question before he allowed her to fall asleep, he had an inclination that something wasn't right judging by her reactions. "What year is it?"

What year was it? Her eyes blinked rapidly as she tried to stay awake and desperately tried to think of what year it was, her brain was such a jumbled mess she didn't know much of anything.

Throwing the Doctor a strange glance he didn't know what the stupid question was going to achieve because he could see that she was getting sleepy.

"20 . . . 13?"

The Doctor silently picked up her notes from the end of the bed and began to write things down, "Why don't you sleep now and we'll talk more tomorrow?" He made a sharp exit out of the room with notes in hand, he had some research to do.

Everybody left and soon it was just Stephanie and Paul left in the room again.

He could see how tired she was so he soothingly rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, "Go to sleep Stephanie, your body needs all of the rest it can get."

"Hmm." She didn't have the energy to even begin to fight with him on the issue. Her eyes felt heavy and it was getting harder and harder by the second to keep them open she she surrendered to the exhaustion and fell back to sleep.

His mind was going wild with all sorts of questions about why she seemed so unsure about what year it was but he had to wait until he was sure that she was asleep before he left.

Time passed so slowly as he waited but eventually he felt like the time was right for him to leave the room. Disentangling his hand from hers he moved towards the door, as he got closer he heard voices outside but he couldn't tell what was being said but the second he walked out of the door the talking stopped. "Was it something I said?"

"It's just private medical stuff."

Glancing back at the room he had a bad feeling, "Private medical stuff about Stephanie?" The nods of the head he received in response told him that his gut was right, "Something is wrong isn't it?"

"It might be nothing Paul, there really is no need to be alarmed at this stage."

The fact that he was now being treated like a child really didn't make him happy, he was a grown adult and could take it. "For real Cassie? You are actually going to stand there and pretend that I wasn't in the room when she said that it was 2013 and not 2016?"

Looking at the Doctor she was hoping that he was going to say something but it appeared that it was all on her. "It may be nothing, it could just be that she is groggy from all of the meds and is a little out of it after being in a coma . . ."

"But?"

Why did he have to see when she wasn't telling him everything, it was for his own good. "But it could be that she has some form of amnesia, we won't really be able to tell for a few days until she is properly out of the coma."

That news was huge, he had genuinely never thought that there would be effects to her brain, he should have after the bleed but he hadn't and now it wasn't looking great for her.

The Doctor could see the wheels turning in his head and it didn't seem to be good thoughts either. "The good news is that she can talk and she understand what is being said to her though. If it is amnesia then it could just be short term, or it could be serious long term amnesia. It really is a waiting game though Paul, nobody knows anything until we can properly examine her and find out what she does actually remember. If you want to get out I would do so now."

"No! I'm not going to abandon her when she has nobody else. I will help her get through this, if it is what she wants. I'm going to head home now though, I'll be back in the morning. Goodnight all."

They watched him leave with a shake of the head, "He has absolutely no idea what he is getting himself in to."

"You have to admire his dedication but I question whether he is making the right decision. Dealing with somebody with amnesia is hard work and can often be soul destroying so I don't know how he is going to cope having lost his wife only a few weeks ago."

Cassie couldn't help but sigh, she would have to talk to Paul tomorrow and explain everything so that he was fully aware of what he was going to face. "I will talk to him in the morning before he sees her, I will come in early and make sure that I catch him."

The Doctor felt better knowing that she was going to talk to him so that was one concern that was being dealt with, "Good. Now back to discussing Stephanie's care."


	7. Chapter 7

Because he had received mostly good news before he had left the hospital Paul found himself able to relax and to enjoy his evening. He tried not to think about the potential for amnesia because if he did he would end up spending most of the night on Google looking things up.

The next morning when he was buzzed in to ICU he was suspicious; Cassie was sat there clearly waiting for him which made him think the worst, "What happened?"

Quickly getting to her feet she shook her head, "Nothing, we just need to talk a minute before you go in."

"When a woman tells you they want to 'talk' they're normally breaking up with you, as I'm not dating you it can't be that so forgive me if I am suspicious."

A soft laugh passed her lips and she shook her head, "I'm serious Paul, we need to talk about what to expect."

He hadn't been joking around, he was suspicious and it turned out he had every right to be. "So tell me, exactly what bad news are you about to drop on me?"

"It isn't bad news; it's a dose of reality." Sitting back down she patted he seat beside her and waited for him to join her before she began. "You know that there is a chance that Stephanie has amnesia, you just don't know how bad things are for amnesia patients. If it is short term amnesia they will slowly regain their memories and it will come back over time so that isn't such a big deal, if it is long term amnesia then that poses a much bigger problem. If somebody can't remember anything then they have to re-learn everything, some it can be as bad as them having to learn to walk again and some it is simply that they need to re-learn people, places, that kind of thing.

Luckily for Cassie he had been on Google over breakfast, his Mom would have killed him for eating and surfing on his iPad but he did. "I know. I did some Googling this morning, I can't guarantee that all of the information that I found was accurate but I felt like I needed to know something just in case."

"And you're still here?"

"Yes?" There was confusion as to why she thought that he was going to walk away. "It's not like she will actually want me to stay for long term."

"Or will she?"

He didn't even know why he had suddenly decided that she wasn't going to want him around when last night she had been pretty clingy and desperate for him to stay. "Okay fine, I don't know why I just said that but what happens if I do stick around and she has like long term amnesia and can't remember shit? I don't know her family or her business or anything useful to teach her."

Pretty much nobody that worked at the hospital wanted her to have long term memory issues; everybody wanted the happy ending for her. She didn't know what to say to him though; she had nobody anyway so it wasn't as if he would be taking her away from people who actually knew those things.

"You are about as much in the dark about Stephanie's future and past as I am. In all of the time that she has been here in the hospital not one person has been to see her so why are you so desperate for me to walk away and leave her with nobody at all?"

"It isn't that I want you to walk away from her; I just know that you have been through a lot yourself and the last thing I want to do is add to the things that you are going through by including Stephanie in that. Before you get all cranky and tell me that you have dealt with your wife's passing and all of that as a Nurse, and your friend, I still remain concerned about you because I know how hard amnesia hits not only the patient but those around them and I don't want to add to the ever growing pile of things you have on your plate."

As sweet as it was that she cared and as happy as he was that she was giving him all of the information it was old for him to have people treat him like he was fragile. "Spoiler alert, I'm not a china doll that is going to shatter into millions of tiny little pieces. We're doing all of this talking about how hard it is to deal with amnesia but she may not have it and she may not even want me around. Why don't we take it one day at a time and I will allow you to act like my Mom and constantly check up on me and if the worst comes to the worst I will listen to you if you think I am getting overwhelmed by it all and are not recognising it."

Impressed by his level headedness she was glad that he was willing to actually listen to her and take on board her opinion. "Why don't you go and say good morning to Stephanie then? I'm not sure that she has woken up but you can still go and see her."

"I promise you that I will not wake her up, she needs as much sleep as she can possibly get."

The two separated allowing Cassie to go and get ready to begin her shift and he entered Stephanie's room and smiled at how peaceful she looked, it was a much nicer feeling knowing that she had woken up so there was no stress to it. Taking a seat beside the bed he took her hand in his, "Good morning, I hope you're enjoying your sleep."

He relaxed in the chair beside the bed gently rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand occasionally. Eventually her hand flexed and her eyes began to flutter open, "Hi there."

Rapidly blinking her eyes she tried to focus on her surroundings and put a face to the presence beside her that was so comforting. "Where am I?"

That was a question that he hoped he wouldn't get in trouble for answering, "You're in the hospital, you were in an accident and got hurt so you really shouldn't move about too much."

His voice was familiar but she didn't recognise him at all, he was a complete stranger to her. "Who are you?"

"Paul, my name is Paul Levesque and it is very nice to meet you at last Stephanie."

"Who?"

What who? Who was he or who was she? "I don't understand." He hoped he got a decent clarification that didn't scare the shit out of him.

"Who is Stephanie?" She was feeling a lot less drowsy than last night but she still didn't know anything.

Fuck, she didn't even know her own name, this was bad. "Are you hungry or thirsty or anything?"

"I am thirsty please."

Quickly standing up he turned to get her a drink but realised there was nothing there. "Hold on please, I just need to get you some water."

He made a sharp exit out of the room and straight to the Nurses' station not recognising the face nor caring who they were either, "You are a Nurse here right?"

"I am. I am covering a shift, I don't normally work ICU I'm afraid so please bear with me but what can I help you with?"

He could feel his stomach doing somersaults the more he thought about what she had said in the room, he was really worried for her now.

Receiving only silence to her question she almost felt unqualified to be here, "Uh Sir, can I help you with something?"

"Sorry." With a quick shake of the head he freed himself of cobwebs, "Can I please get some water and a glass for Stephanie please? There is nothing in her room right now. Can you also pass a message on to whatever Doctor is on duty right now and tell them that Stephanie does not even know her own name please?"

"There is no water in the room? I am really sorry about that, I will fetch some now and bring it right in. I can also pass that message on for you; I assume they will understand what I mean?"

"Unfortunately yes. I am going to go back and sit with her but thank you and I'm sorry if I was rude."

A soft smile came to her lips, she didn't know who he was or who the patient was but it was a high pressure environment so it could all be understood. "It isn't a problem Sir, it really isn't."

Returning to the room he took his place back beside the bed, "The Nurse said that she would bring some water now."

"Thanks." She forced a smile for him but she wasn't feeling the smile because she didn't even know who she was.

The same Doctor that had been on the night before was on again so when the Nurse approached him and passed on the message he knew exactly what it meant and he really didn't like the news.

Sat beside Stephanie he could see the fear in her face and he knew that she didn't know what to say. "Is there anything you know?"

She wished she knew something but she was too afraid to admit that she didn't know anything about herself so she deflected it, "How do I know you?"

"You don't." The way she avoided his question concerned him.

Was he playing with her? How could he possibly say that when he knew she was struggling remembering anything.

The look on his face made him realise that he hadn't given her enough information to make her happy. "Okay so I'm not trying to mess with your head but we really don't know each other. You didn't have anybody sitting with you when I came by one day so I offered to sit with you and well here we are." He didn't want to give her too much information as she had only just woken up and she hadn't seen the Doctor.

If she could remember the people that she used to know then she would actually ask him questions.

An awkward silence had come over the two of them but it was broken by the Nurse appearing with a jug of water along with a glass and a straw. "Here you go. I'm so sorry that there wasn't any before. Would you like me to help you with a drink?"

"No thanks . . . this guy will."

'This guy' wasn't exactly a promising start but he'd take it as it was understandable. "It's okay. Thanks for the water but I'm happy to help her." Standing up he began to pour her a glass of water before he stuck the straw in it, "Are you ready?"

"Ready, thank you."

With his help she managed to soothe her throat with a much drink before he helped to situate her comfortably again.

Ten minutes later and the Doctor walked through the door, "Good morning Stephanie, how are you doing today?"

"Okay?"

The Doctor forced a smile and made a quick note before he carried on. "Are you comfortable?"

"My body hurts and I don't remember any thing or any body."

"You have some injuries which I will go in to later; I think I need to have another scan done so I can check your body out. As for your memory, I need to have some tests run on it so just hang in there and I'll run tests and get to the bottom of things and explain it all to you after. For now though relax and if you need painkillers let the Nurse know." Before he left the room he turned to Paul, "Can I have a word outside please?"

"Sure." Unsure of what he wanted with him he got to his feet and followed him outside.

Once they were out of Stephanie's earshot the Doctor's face took on a serious look, "The Nurse passed on your message, thank you for that."

"It's okay. For what it is worth her short term memory is affected too as she couldn't remember my name after I had told her."

"That may just be an after effect of the sedation but I will pass that on when I get the Neuro Psychologist to come and run some tests on her. I'm going to go and see if I can get the tests run as soon as possible."

"Thanks Doc." The speed that he wanted to get answers for her was great but he had completely forgotten to ask about what answers he should give to her questions and he didn't want to mess it up.

Leaving the Doctor to go back to his job he went back into the room, "Are you okay?"

"I guess. Tell me about yourself please."

"There isn't much to tell you." He sat back down beside her unsure of how much he actually wanted to tell her about himself.

"Please? When you don't know anything about anybody then you'll take anything." It was strange sitting with him, she felt like she should be touching him, so much so that she actively reached for his hand as it rested on the bed.

When she reached for his hand he allowed her to pull it closer. "My name is Paul, I'm thirty one years old and I work in sales."

"Are you . . . with someone?"

Shaking his head the last thing he wanted to do was get into his story so he was going to deny deny deny.

Silence fell over the two of them and she began to play with his fingers, she felt weird like she had done something wrong.

Things between the two were awkward but she was still quite tired so she soon found herself unable to stay awake any longer and drifted back off to sleep.

Much to his relief she slept most of the morning away so by the time lunchtime came and he had to take his break he had been able to avoid any more personal questions.

With Paul having just left Cassie entered the room to see if Stephanie was awake. When she walked in she saw that she was just waking up so silently walked to the end of the bed to check on her charts as she had been busy this morning.

"Who are you?"

Her attention was dragged from the charts when she was addressed by Stephanie. "My name is Cassie, I am one of the nurses here that have been looking after you. Can I get you anything right now?"

"Where is . . . that guy that's been there?" It felt weird without him around, especially when she couldn't remember anything.

She felt bad for her that she didn't even seem able to remember his name, "Paul has gone for some lunch, I have been making sure that he goes and eats lunch every day otherwise I threaten to kick him out."

"How long has he been sitting with me then?"

"I can't remember exactly as all of the days are merging in to one right now. I think that it is just over a week but he has been here with you all day every day."

He said that they didn't know each other but he had spent so much time together so did they actually know each other and he was lying to her? "Can I ask you a question please?"

"Of course you can, I will try to answer anything that I can."

"Do I know him and just can't remember him? He says that we don't know each other but I don't know."

This was awkward, how did she explain it to her? Moving to sit on the edge of the bed she could tell that she was struggling to process things and the lack of memory wasn't helping her. "You really don't know him at all. I promise you that with all of the research that has been done on you since you came in that I can guarantee that. It might be that you feel like you know him because he spent so long talking to you that you just recognise his voice, they do say that coma patients can hear when people are talking to them."

It was beginning to annoy her how she couldn't remember anything. "I hate this, I hate that I cannot remember anything. Can't you give me something to fix this?"

"Unfortunately not, there is nothing that we can do to fix a broken mind. It will get better though, you just have to give yourself time to heal."

She didn't want time to heal, she wanted to know everything and she wanted to know it now.

As she looked at the woman lying in the bed Cassie could sense that it was time for her to make a fast exit as she needed some time on her own. "If you need anything there is a buzzer right beside you and one of us will be right in."

Stephanie was too deep into being frustrated and feeling sorry for herself to hear what was being said to her, she just wanted to be better and she wanted it now.


	8. Chapter 8

Once the man had left her alone she was supposed to be having lunch but instead of that she ended up being taken for a scan of almost her entire body which freaked her out as the enclosed space wasn't nice.

Returning to her room she had never been so relieved to see soup in her life, her stomach was beginning to growl and her throat was hurting so she would be able to eat that easily.

The process of eating her soup took a while and was incredibly painful so once she had eaten the last mouthful she dropped the spoon in the bowl and shrank back into the bed hoping that it would soothe her pain.

Cassie smiled at the Doctor as she buzzed her in, "Can I help you?"

"I'm the Neuro Psychologist here to see Stephanie McMahon. I have had a cancellation so I thought I would assess her, if she is up to it?"

That was fast, she did not expect to see the Neuro Psychologist this quickly, "She was eating the last time that I checked on her so we'll see."

When she walked in to the room she frowned to see Stephanie looking in so much pain as she lay on the bed. "Stephanie there is somebody here to see you." There was no response or movement so she stepped closer to the bed and gently touched her arm, "Stephanie?"

"Who? Wait, that's meant to be me isn't it?"

She smiled sympathetically, "It is you. Are you okay? You don't look comfortable."

"I'm not, my body hurts a lot. What did you want me for?"

"I will check your chart to see if you can have any more painkillers in a moment but here we have somebody who would like to talk to you; the Doctor mentioned this morning seeing somebody about your memory. Are you up to seeing her?"

She didn't remember that conversation but she was willing to go along with whatever she said, "I guess."

The Neuro Psychologist stepped forward with a chair placing it beside the bed, "It's very nice to meet you Stephanie, my name is Natalie Stevenson but you can call me Nat or Natalie if you want."

Cassie made a quiet exit from the room as soon as she had checked the charts leaving the two of them to talk.

Once Natalie had sat down she pulled out a pad and pen, "I am just going to make notes for myself here okay? It may be questions that I want to ask you later or just things that I pick up on so that I can help you."

"Sure."

Short answers and little interaction was not going to help her get to the bottom of what she could remember about things so she was going to have to push the subject rather than just casually chat to her, "Why don't you tell me a little about yourself."

"My name is apparently Stephanie and that is all I know." If she was going to keep asking stupid questions then she was not going to enjoy this as much as she enjoyed his company.

"Do you remember **anything** at all? Maybe something insignificant from a while ago, just anything will do."

She didn't remember anything, why could nobody understand that? Crossing her arms over her chest she glared at the other woman in the room, "I don't remember **a-ny-thing**." She stressed the word 'anything' so that it would hopefully get through to her.

As Cassie re-entered the room with painkillers Natalie made a few notes, she already had a fair idea of what was going on from the few short minutes that she had been with her and from the little information that she had received from the Doctor it all seemed to add up to Retrograde amnesia and she was guessing a sprinkle of suppressed memories too.

Movement was uncomfortable so as she sat up slightly to take the painkillers she was grateful for the Nurse's support and her help to lie her back down against the pillows, "Thanks."

"Not a problem. I will leave you to it now but call if you need anything."

"Who was that Nurse? I didn't catch her name when I came in." Whenever Natalie had fears about a patient's memory she was always worried when she asked these types of questions as she preferred to give good news to bad.

Who was she? She knew her face, she had seen her a lot, he just couldn't remember her name. "She works here, I know her face, I don't know who she is though."

"So she has never introduced herself to you?" Didn't know and didn't remember were two entirely different things and she needed to figure out which one it was.

"She must have, I'm sure she did. I know her face, I recognise her face, I don't know what her name is though."

The initial signs of distress were beginning to appear so she quickly ended that line of questioning and moved on to doing some actual tests.

Paul returned a little late from his lunch with his iPod in his hand, "Hey Cassie. Do you know if Stephanie is awake?"

"She's awake, the Neuro Psychologist is with her right now though so you need to sit out here and wait patiently please."

Waiting patiently was becoming his new special skill, "I can do sitting patiently, you'd be amazed at how well I can do it, especially when it is an instruction, I follow them so well."

She couldn't help but snigger, waiting patiently wasn't anybody's strong suit when it came to being in the ICU. Her amusement turned to irritation when she heard his phone ringing, "And how many times have you seen the signs that say your phone must be turned off?"

"Sorry, I'm really sorry." He removed his phone from his pocket to reject the call but then he saw it was work and realised he couldn't, "I'll be back." Slipping out of the door and in to the corridor he answered the call, "Yes?"

"Paul it is Adeline, Dan's Secretary."

"Adeline, how very nice to hear from you." Sarcasm came so easily when it came to Dan or people associated with him, "What can I do for you?"

"Dan asked me to call you to confirm your return on Monday."

"Are you being serious right now? My supposed boss is that weak and pathetic that he has his Secretary call me? That supposed man is something else. I was thinking though, as Dan is in no hurry for me to return to work that I'll just take a few more weeks off." The idea had only come to him then but with everything going on with Stephanie maybe it would be a good thing to take a little more time.

There were some hushed whispers going on in the background before she finally spoke again, "This is not a negotiation Paul. Dan expects you back in the office by 8:30am on Monday morning or you will not have a job to return to."

"Tell Dan to grow some balls and talk to me himself next time instead of standing in the background feeding you the words to say. I guess you will find out on Monday what my decision is though, enjoy your weekend." Ending the call he was about to turn off his phone when an idea hit him, opening his messages he scrolled down looking for a thread and once he found it he fired off a quick text:

 _I didn't know Adeline did Dan's dirty work for him now. What crawled up his ass & died? What's the hurry to get me back on Monday?_

As soon as he had sent the text he turned off his phone and requested entry back on to ICU.

"What happened?" She could see when he walked back in that he was stressed and the last thing she needed was for him to pass on that stress to Stephanie.

"That was my boss' Secretary, apparently he has no balls and refused to call me himself to tell me that I must be back in work on Monday or I won't have a job to go back to. I have no problem going back to work; it is just the way he went about it that annoyed me."

Now that he had explained it it all made sense why he looked so frustrated, "It will be okay Paul, you can get through this. Why don't you take a load off whilst Stephanie is being assessed and maybe you won't be so wired when you see her."

"Sure." He took a seat outside the room and just waited.

Forty five minutes after she had walked in to the room Natalie packed up her notepad, "Thank you so much for talking to me today and I am really sorry that I have exhausted you so much."

"It's okay . . . Miss, hopefully you can give me some answers soon please."

She noticed the way that she didn't use her name, she had probably forgotten her name and that was okay because she was hoping that it would all get better. "Take care of yourself and I'll probably see you again soon." As she walked out of the room she noticed the man sat beside the door but didn't pay a whole lot of attention to him because she had an appointment in clinic soon, "Thank you for letting me in to see Stephanie, let the Doctor know that I will get my findings to him as soon as possible please."

"Will do. Thank you for this and I am sure that I will see you again soon no doubt."

He waited patiently for the Doctor to leave ICU before he stood up, "Can I see her now please?"

Giggling at his eagerness she nodded her head, "You may go in and see her but I need to check on her too as she was in pain before the Doctor arrived so I need to make sure the painkillers are working for her."

"Fine whatever, after you I guess."

"Aww, aren't you just the sweetest?" She playfully rolled her eyes at him before she walked past him and in to the room, "I have somebody else to see you."

Carefully turning her head to the side a little she smiled when she saw him stood behind her, "Hey, I didn't think that you were coming back."

"I have been sat outside whilst you had another visitor but now you're free here I am, if you want me."

"I want you."

Beginning to feel a little uncomfortable in the room Cassie cleared her throat, "Before the two of you get talking and completely forget that I am here, how is your pain Stephanie?"

The pain was there, it was enough for her to be irritated but not enough for her to want to do anything about it. "I will live. I am tired, I want to spend some time with him and the painkillers are making me drowsy so maybe later."

Before Cassie even had the opportunity to open her mouth Paul opened his, "Don't you dare stay in pain just because I am here. I will be here until like six tonight, or something like that anyway, and I will be back tomorrow and will be here all day and the next day so you really don't need to worry about falling asleep on me, you need that sleep more than you need my company."

"I rest my case; I don't think I need to say anything else. In all seriousness though Stephanie, whilst your body is healing I am sure that you will appreciate the painkillers."

She was too tired to deal with everybody having a go at her, "Okay okay. If you will leave me alone then I will take them."

"Thank you. I will be back now with some more painkillers for you." They had deliberately set it up so that they could play with the dosage of her painkillers as they went so that they could prevent her being in pain.

When she left the room he walked over to the bed and perched himself on the edge of it, "So I have brought you a present kind of thing. I thought that whilst you are stuck in here and because I don't know where you live or what you like and if you have one of your own I thought you might like to borrow my iPod. I don't know if you'll like the kind of music that I do but you might enjoy it when you have nothing to do and are in a lot of pain."

As he produced something from his pocket she was so thankful for him as without him she was all alone. Why was she all alone? Surely somebody knew something about her.

It was only when he placed the iPod on her lap and she picked it up to look at it did she see the picture on the bed, picking it up she studied it carefully recognising him instantly, "Who is in this picture?"

Looking at the picture he frowned, that was a picture of himself and his family at his sister's wedding, how stupid and insensitive could he be? Carefully removing the picture from her hands he put it back in his pocket, "That was my family, we don't need to talk about them though."

"Where is my family? Why aren't they here with me? I must have family right?"

Much to Paul's relief Cassie walked back in to the room so he could get out of answering that, "Here are your painkillers."

"Where is my family?" She had seen his family; she wanted to know about hers.

"Why don't you just take these a minute?" She knew that Stephanie was not strong enough right now to deal with the reality of what had happened to her family so hopefully if she got distracted for long enough then she would forget that she had asked the question.

It was her job to help her take her medication whilst she was in so much pain so she did that in silence and then helped her get situated back in bed comfortably, "Paul can we talk outside please?"

"Sure. Steph why don't you take a look at the iPod whilst I'm gone, I will be back now." He knew that he was about to get his head ripped off and he deserved it.

"Why is she asking about her family? I was only gone for like a minute." She was trying to be as discreet as possible as they stood outside of the room, she didn't want to cause any more alarm to her than was necessary right now.

"A picture of my family at my sister's wedding fell out of my pocket and she asked who they were. I have never been so grateful to see you in my life than I was to see you walk in the door with her painkillers. How do I answer those sorts of questions? I can't exactly say to her 'they are all dead' can I? That would be far too distressing."

"Well at least you recognised that now is not the right time to tell her that her family are dead. You will need to talk to the Doctor about how you should handle those questions going forward but for now hope and pray that she has forgotten what she asked when you walk back in."

"I can do praying. I'd better go back in but please can you let the Doctor know that I need to talk to him about that?" He couldn't not confront the issue now, he had wanted to keep his head buried in the sand a little but she had made sure that he couldn't.

"Of course, I will leave a note for him now so that even if I don't see him he will know to seek you out. You should go in before she starts asking questions about where you are."

Giving her a small smile he turned around and walked back in to the room, "So how are you getting on with my iPod? See anything you like?"

"What is this music?" She was relieved to see him return because she didn't recognise any of the names in front of her. "Come and sit with me and tell me all about them."

Paul went over to the bed and sat down besides her resting his arm along the back of the bed, "So where shall we start?"


	9. Chapter 9

His shoulder was beginning to ache from the uncomfortable position that he was holding it in but he didn't dare move as he didn't want to wake her.

There was a soft knock at the door before the Doctor walked in, "Oh hi Paul, it was so quiet in here that I thought that you had left and I had missed you."

"As you can see I am still here. We were going through music on the iPod that I have leant her and she fell asleep leaning against me so I didn't want to move to wake her as she needs the sleep but my shoulder is wishing that I would."

Unable to stop the chuckle that passed his lips the Doctor shook his head, "You can move your arm, you don't want it to be completely stiff. Maybe if you are able to free your arm we can go and talk?"

"Sure." Very carefully he cradled her head with his free hand and removed his arm from beneath it before he laid it back on the pillow gently and the two men made their way out of the room to talk privately.

"So I understand that she is asking questions about her family?"

"She is and I don't know how to answer them. So far I have managed to walk out of the room and she has forgotten the question by the time that I return but I won't be avoiding the question by leaving the room every time that she asks."

It was such a delicate situation because right now he didn't know what her diagnosis was so didn't know exactly how much she remembered now and how much she would remember soon. "I know that this isn't the answer that you want but fake that you don't know anything for the time being please. Until I know what her diagnosis is and what the actual prognosis is it will be far less traumatic for her if she is only told one time and when she is ready to hear it."

"I guessed that I shouldn't tell her, I didn't realise it would have to be played like that though. What if she keeps asking and eventually figures out that I do know something and am keeping it from her?" It may be a slightly irrational fear but at this point he was pretty afraid of everything when around her as he didn't want to set back her recovery.

"Then defer answering, say that you have to speak to me first and that will buy you some time where you can talk to me and I can decide what is right for her."

As long as he didn't have to take any of the blame for that then he could deal with that, "If you're happy to take any of the issues on your shoulders then be my guest. Thank you for the help though, I was pretty helpless and had no idea how to handle anything. Is it okay if I go back and sit with her again please? Just until she wakes up and then I will get you as you obviously came in to the room for a reason."

"I came to discuss the results of the scan with her so that would be great if you could let me know when she wakes up please."

"Sure, when she wakes up I will let you know." He left the Doctor and went back to Stephanie's room rolling his shoulder as he went, he was definitely still feeling the stiffness in it but she had seemed comfortable so he only hoped that moving her hadn't woken her up.

Entering the room again he noticed how she was sat there wide awake, "Hey, you're awake. The Doctor just said that he wanted to talk to you when you're awake, are you up for that?"

When she had woken up she felt cold and empty, she was really not liking waking up without him around but she took the time alone to try out the music player he had brought in for her to see what some more of the music on it was like.

She was only on her second song when she saw him walk in to the room and she couldn't help but smile immediately putting the music on pause when he spoke. "You are going to stay right? I don't think I'll remember what he says so you can remember for me."

It was hard not to laugh at her comment as his memory sometimes was almost as poor as hers was. "I can try to remember for you anyway. I will be back in a minute with the Doctor so don't go anywhere."

A smile tugged at her lips as he left, she wished that she could remember things and that she could sit up and move around without any pain, that would make her happy to have a change of scenery.

A couple of minutes later and Paul returned with the Doctor. "Stephanie said that she wanted me to sit in, that's okay right?"

"Of course. Stephanie is what Paul is saying correct? I just need your confirmation please."

Being called 'Stephanie' was starting to become more normal to her now so she recognised that he was talking to her. "Yes please. I don't think that I will remember what you say so I want him to remember for me."

The Doctor moved to the end of the bed so that he could look directly at Stephanie as he spoke and Paul moved to sit beside the bed again taking her hand when she reached for his.

"I have not had the results from the Neuro Psychologist yet so we will need to discuss those tomorrow or in a few days time, whenever they do come in. As a result of the accident we were unable to tell a lot with the initial scans when you were brought in due to the swelling and trauma but the new scans show the following list of injuries. Your right leg is broken but is healing nicely, you have broken two ribs and cracked a further three more, you have done some damage to the disks in your back that will require a back brace to be worn for a while and where we feared that you may have broken your neck it is fine but you probably did some damage to the muscles. The neck brace will come off soon but your neck will be stiff and painful to move however a Physiotherapist will come in to give you exercises to help the movement and you will be fitted for a back brace tomorrow."

She stared at the Doctor as she tried to process the words that he said, she didn't know what it meant for her. "Can I leave now?"

"The hospital? Absolutely not, there is far too much that you need to be here for so you are looking at needing to stay here for at least a few weeks more."

"Oh." She was really disappointed that she was stuck here for a few weeks more, "I'm bored."

Paul had a feeling that there had been a miscommunication because she seemed like she would be smarter than assuming that. "Stephanie did you want to leave the room or the hospital?"

"Room. I want to see things and places and people."

Now the Doctor understood where she was coming from he could give her a better answer and one that she would like. "Once you get fitted for a back brace and are wearing that then as long as you are still stable we can allow you to move around the hospital in a wheelchair."

"Really?!" That answer made her so happy because she would be able to see people and places that she couldn't see now.

"Really. You probably still have a few days left before that will be possible though so don't get too excited. I should get on but if you have any questions I will be around so just ask a nurse and I will give you an answer as soon as possible."

Paul waited until the Doctor left before he spoke to her, "So that kind of seemed like good news, at least you'll be able to be pushed around in a wheelchair soon."

"Will you still visit me?"

"Do you want me to?" He knew that he was back to work on Monday but he would go to work and then come by afterwards if she wanted him to.

She didn't want him to stop coming to see her, she liked his company and he made her happy. "Yes please, if you don't have anything better to do."

He felt sorry for her the way she worded visiting her as being a burden. "Well I do have to go back to work on Monday but I can come by every night after work if you want and then I will be able to be here all weekend unless you get sick of the sight of me and want me to leave."

"I never want you to leave. You are the one constant thing in my life and I feel like I can rely on you when I can't rely on myself. What is your job?"

It made him a little worried to hear her being so heavily reliant on him, the last thing he wanted to do was to jeopardise her recovery in any way by being there too much so he was going to have to ask somebody who knew more than him if it was a bad thing. "I'm in Sales, my boss is an asshole and everybody knows it but him so we all have fun together ripping on him and his ego. He is actually incredibly spineless and had his Secretary call me to tell me that I have to be back in work on Monday, he was there in the background but he refused to actually talk to me."

"Wow. Do you know what I did as a job? I know it is a lot to ask but I thought maybe I was in an accident at work so you knew what I did possibly."

He did know where she worked; he didn't know what she actually did though so if he answered he could do it with a clean conscience with not lying to her. "I don't know what you did for a job. If you want I'll talk to the Doctor and see what information that they'll give me and see what I can dig up over time." He probably shouldn't have suggested that but he felt bad for her and couldn't help himself.

She wanted to know about herself but she didn't see how that would help her, "It's okay thanks, it isn't like I can go back to work any time soon."

Relief flooded his body that he hadn't just put his foot in it with her, "You will get better and then you will wonder what the fuss was about, you seem like a strong fighter and I most certainly would not want to cross you on a bad day."

"I hope that I wasn't mean to people."

"I am sure that you weren't, I don't think that you have a mean bone in your body. I should probably check my text messages as I sent a text to one of my colleagues about the phone call so I will be back in a second. Do you want anything?"

She wanted him not to leave her alone but then she saw the nurse behind him and realised that she wouldn't be, "No thanks. It looks like I have more company."

"Perfect timing, she is all yours." He had to leave ICU before he could turn his phone on and when he did he noticed the reply to his text.

 _I thought you were coming back on Monday anyway? What Dan hasn't told you is that he needs you back ASAP as people are walking away from the company. Austin overheard Dan in the boss' office & he told him he has a month to turn the figures around or he is out of a job. We're all going to the usual bar after work tonight so if you are at a loose end & want to swing by you're welcome to._

After reading the text he turned his phone back off and put it in his pocket, it would be nice to catch up with them all before he went back to work but he didn't want to leave Stephanie if she wasn't feeling up to being alone. He made his way back inside and would judge how he felt about it in a bit.

When he entered the room he noticed that she was laying their without her neck brace on, "You're free."

"I'm free. Did you get the response that you wanted?"

He couldn't help but smirk slightly as he thought about the response, "It was even better than I expected. Apparently the reason that I have been summoned back to work on Monday is because my boss has been told by the big boss at work that he has a month to turn the figures around or he is out of a job. Apparently things haven't been great there as people have been walking away since I haven't been there."

She knew that she couldn't remember anything and her brain was fuzzy so she got confused easily but that made her even more confused as she assumed that he had just been away from work because of a holiday but that made it sound like he hadn't been there in a long time. "Exactly how long have you been away then?"

"Just a couple of months." He didn't want to tell her really but he couldn't lie to her as that wouldn't be fair.

"A couple of months? Why did you take time off work for so long? Were you in hospital?"

Technically he had been in hospital but it was just visiting. There was no way that he wanted to tell her about his wife, not right now. "I've got to get going as the guys from work wanted to meet up before Monday. I will be back to see you tomorrow if you want?"

"I want please."

"I will see you tomorrow then." He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head before he left the room, he was probably a little early but it was the only way that he could think of avoiding her asking awkward questions. Luckily for him when he left her room Cassie was down the corridor so he only waved at her before he made a sharp exit out of ICU and hopefully by tomorrow she would have forgotten the conversation.

Stephanie wanted to know the answer to her question so she kept repeating 'was he in hospital' over and over in her head and hoped that the nice Nurse came in soon.

When Paul waved goodbye Cassie looked at her watch, it was strangely early for him to be leaving so just to be on the safe side she went to check on Stephanie. As she entered the room she could see the concentration on her face and that put her on edge, "Everything okay?"

"Was he in hospital?" If she didn't say what she had focussed on then she would forget it quickly so instead of answering her question she blurted out her own.

"Was who in hospital? I am confused." She could make an assumption as to who Stephanie meant but she could be very wrong.

". . . the guy who is always here." She tried so hard to remember his name but she couldn't.

What exactly did 'was he in hospital' mean? "Uh, he isn't I don't believe, he just waved to me as he left so I assume he went home."

"I mean in hospital like me."

She didn't know why she was asking that, she could only guess what they had been having a conversation about. "I don't believe that he has been in hospital, why?"

"He . . ." What was it that he had said that made her think that? It took her a minute of serious thinking to remember what he had said but she could only remember one word, "Work, something to do with work."

She wished that she could help her but she honestly couldn't give her an answer as she wasn't entirely sure of the question, "I think you will have to talk to him about it tomorrow."

"But I won't remember what I wanted to know."

Cassie didn't want him to keep running from this so she was going to do her one small favour, "What if I write a little note that says you want to know if he was in hospital and it was something to do with work and then when he next comes to visit you you can ask him?"

"Yes please."

"I will get on that now. Dinner should be around soon so why don't you relax a minute so you have the energy to eat."

She knew her so well. Forcing a smile she rested her head back on the pillow, "I'm going to put the iPod in and close my eyes so I probably won't hear you come in."

"No problem, I will be sure to get your attention when I bring it in to you. Enjoy your music." When she left the room Cassie couldn't help but shake her head, when she got a strange look from her colleague she rolled her eyes, "Men."

"Say no more."

Paul wanted so badly to avoid all questions about why he hadn't been working for the past few months, the time had been painful and he would prefer not to relive it if he could help it. Rather than going home and going back out he made his way to the bar, he would be a little early but he could have a drink and just relax before everybody started arriving and he had to answer questions about how he was.


	10. Chapter 10

When he pulled in to the parking lot at the bar Paul looked at the clock, he was about half an hour earlier than everybody else so it would give him a good chance to have a drink and get some Dutch courage inside himself.

Safely locking his car he put his keys in his pocket and made his way towards the front door. Going straight to the bar he leant against it waiting for service but he almost regretted coming when he immediately recognised the bar tender.

"Paul! It's so good to see you again. I was really sorry to hear about your wife. How are you doing?"

"I'm good thanks. Can I get a double shot of whiskey please?" The last thing he wanted to do was to deal with pity from the bar tender, he was going to get enough of that from his work colleagues.

After leaving for a moment she soon returned and placed his glass on the bar, "It's on the house, call it a welcome back."

"Thanks." He picked up the glass and downed the drink in one hissing as the liquid burned his throat as it went down, "Can I get another please?"

Briefly she thought about arguing with him but it wasn't her place to so she just picked up his glass and went to pour him another drink before she returned, "Here you go."

"Thanks." This time rather than downing the drink in one he slid his money across the bar and then nursed the glass in his hands for a bit, "It's been a while since I have had human company so I need a little Dutch courage to deal with the inevitable questions coming my way."

"They are good guys and they have missed you a lot you know."

"They have?"

"They have." Briefly stepping away from him she grabbed a bottle of beer for the regular passing it over to them and taking the money and getting their change before she returned to Paul, "They would talk about you every week when they would come in. I know I shouldn't have been eavesdropping on them but I was curious how you were doing so when your name was mentioned I would find an excuse to be nearby to hear what they said because I felt weird asking them how you were."

Staring at her curiously he didn't even realise that she would care how he was. "You barely know me, why would you care how I was?"

"Because you are a regular so I kind of feel like I do know you but beyond that you are actually one of my favourite customers, you are patient, polite and you treat me like a human being and not a robot or a servant and I want nothing but the best for you. Are you back at work now so will be coming back here regularly?"

"Thank you, that means a lot to me that you care. I start work again on Monday but I'm not sure if I will be coming back here regularly, I met someone at the hospital who has no family so I have been visiting and supporting her but we'll see what happens." It felt nice to talk to somebody and not be judged, she was treating him like a person and it was doing wonders for him.

This guy had to have the biggest heart, he didn't know this woman but he was taking care of her. "You are an incredibly special breed of person, your family must be so proud of the person that you are."

Snorting he shook his head and was about to reply when he felt a hand slap him on the shoulder, "Paul! We didn't think that you were going to come."

Quickly downing his whiskey he turned around and forced a smile, "Well I wasn't sure if I was going to come either but I figured I should get the gossip before Monday."

"And boy is there gossip. Tina we'll all have the normal please."

Before Paul even had a chance to say anything he was being pushed off his stool and over to the tables that were hastily being put together by people that had arrived. Taking a seat at one of the chairs he relaxed back, "So what is this gossip that you are so desperate to tell me about?"

"You know how Austin overheard Dan talking to the bosses? Well Sharon actually heard Dan having a conversation with his poor Secretary and he told her that if you don't turn up for work on Monday morning he is fucked. Apparently the bosses recognise that since you have been off the sales have gone down and clients that were long term are not so long term any more so he needs you back so that you can win the clients back and he can take all of the glory for turning the business around."

"Fuck him."

Tina chose that moment to appear with all of the drinks carefully placing the tray on the table before she started handing them around, "Don't mind me, unless that 'fuck' was in my direction."

Snatching at his beer Austin took a long swig of it, "Of course it wasn't aimed at you beautiful, I like you far too much to allow anybody to insult you, it was about our jackass boss."

The flirting was nothing new so she just rolled he eyes at him because she knew it was all playful as he was a happily married man. "Any gossip you can share with me? I love douchey boss gossip."

"He sucks at his job and wants Paul back so that he can do all of the work and then the boss can take all of the credit and save his ass as he is so close to being fired."

"Oooh, now that is douchey boss gossip that I like, no offense Paul. Is there a reason that he apparently sucks at his job?"

"How long do you have? He is rude, full of his own self importance . . ."

Before he could even finish talking Paul was laughing and interrupting him, "Oh my God, you just said 'full of his own self importance'. Who the hell fed you a thesaurus in my absence?"

Everybody around the table but Austin laughed at the comment, "Fuck off. Just because we're happy to see you it doesn't mean that you can insult me."

"Aww, don't be mad that he speaks the truth Austin. I'd better get back to work but as normal I've opened a tab for you to pay before you leave." As Tina walked away she failed to see the middle finger that Austin flipped her way.

It was nice for Paul to be back around people that he knew and it was nice for him that they didn't act like he was going to fall apart at any moment, he was just Paul to them.

By the time that they all left the bar for the night he had drunk more than enough that he would be over the drink drive limit so leaving his car in the parking lot he called a cab to take him home.

Walking through the front door the first thing that he saw was his wedding picture sat on the side and he immediately felt guilty, he shouldn't be out having fun and enjoying himself to the point that he didn't remember that he had just lost his wife. He paused to pick up the picture stroking his wife's face with his finger, "I'm sorry, I really am sorry."

He replaced the picture on the side before he made his way upstairs to bed, sleep was the only thing that he was interested in right now.

Sleep wasn't coming easy for Stephanie, she was tired but she was wide awake and just couldn't seem able to fall asleep even whilst listening to the iPod that had been given to her to borrow.

She had no idea what time it was when the Nurse appeared in the doorway but she forced a smile for her, "Late night?"

"Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Maybe? You should ask my Doctor."

The Nurse laughed as she came in to check the notes, "Are you in pain or anything?"

She hadn't even thought about pain but she really wasn't feeling any, she was sure she had painkillers earlier though so that could be why, "I don't think so. I'm tired but I can't seem to sleep at all."

As she flipped through the pages of notes she was searching out some information but was unable to find it. "Have you had sleeping pills before and would you like some tonight?"

The last thing she wanted to take was more pills, she was going to start rattling soon otherwise. "I would rather stay awake than have those to be honest but thank you for the offer."

"If you change your mind just give us a buzz and we will get some sorted for you, you need your rest."

"I know." She did know that but she couldn't help it if her body disagreed.

"Sleep well then." Not about to force medication on her if she didn't want it the Nurse could only leave her alone unless she changed her mind.

Closing her eyes again images of a plane flashed through her mind but went as quickly as they had appeared. Due to the images being random and unusual her heart began to pound which further prevented her falling asleep but when her heart did calm down she found herself drifting off to sleep.

It was gone nine am before Paul woke up with a pounding headache, he had definitely had too much to drink last night. All but rolling out of bed he needed shower as he felt dirty and then he needed breakfast and to get to the hospital.

Arriving at the hospital close to eleven he went straight for ICU and was easily buzzed in, "Morning."

"Wow you look like shit."

He couldn't help but make a face, that was not exactly the welcome he was looking for from one of the Nurses. "I'm hungover, sue me. I went out with the guys from work before I go back on Monday and had a little too much to drink. I am not that drunk that I can't visit though, you can breath test me if you want."

It was good to hear that he had gotten out of the house so she could only laugh and shake her head at his suggestion, "Don't worry, you're not operating any heavy machinery so you are safe. You should know that Stephanie struggled to go to sleep last night so she is still somewhat dozing now."

"That's okay, I have a mild hangover so I'm not very good company for the minute anyway."

Quietly making his way in to Stephanie's room Paul took a seat in the chair against the wall, he wasn't sure who had moved it but he wasn't going to move it back just yet, he would let her wake up first.

When she felt herself waking up Stephanie felt comforted, there was an aura about the room that made her feel safe and relaxed. Slowly opening her eyes and adjusting to the light in the room she turned her head wincing a little at the pain but smiled seeing . . . him in the room, "Hi."

He had rested his head back against the wall and closed his eyes to stop the dull throbbing from the headache that the painkillers hadn't taken away but he soon opened his eyes when he heard her voice, "Hi. I hear you didn't sleep well last night."

"I didn't, I was tired but I couldn't sleep. You can come closer, I won't bite."

The grin that broke out across his face at the small glimpse of her personality that he had just gotten was wider than he had smiled in a while. "Well that is good to know. For your information though, I am only sitting over here because the chair had been moved and I didn't want to wake you."

"Thank you Paul." She was so uncomfortable and hungry that she failed to register that for the first time she had actually remembered his name.

She said his name, she actually said his name. Moving the chair closer he was about to sit down but noticed the look on her face, "Are you okay?"

"I'm . . . uncomfortable, I don't know if it is pain or what."

Rubbing her arm gently he nodded his head, "Let me get you a Nurse, they will know what the best thing to do is."

As he left her room he couldn't help but smile, she had finally remembered his name, whether it would be a one time thing or all of the time it didn't matter, it had happened once and it was progress.

Caught up in his thoughts he failed to see the Nurse walking down the corridor and crashed right in to her, "Shit, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay this time, I am not actually carrying anything that could be dropped but maybe next time watch where you're going please."

"I will, I promise." Normally he was so aware of his surroundings and so careful that he felt such guilt, "I really am sorry you know, I was so distracted because she remembered my name for the first time that I just wasn't paying attention. It will not happen again but who do I speak to about maybe getting some painkillers for Stephanie please? She is uncomfortable."

"I just have to do what I was on my way to do and then I will be back to sort that out. Give me five minutes and I will be with you but if it is more urgent just press her buzzer and somebody will come."

Returning to the room he took a seat beside the bed, "Five minutes and the Nurse will be here to see what she can do for you."

"Thanks." Her hands fiddled nervously with the iPod that was still on her lap, something was on her mind but she couldn't remember what it was.

His eyes were drawn to the way her hands were fiddling with the lead of the earphones to the iPod, "Everything okay?"

"Something is bothering me, I don't know what it is though. I feel like I wanted to say something to somebody but I don't know what or who."

That was not something he could help with but he could offer her a drink, "I can't work that out but I can get you a drink or food if you are hungry."

"A drink would be nice please."

For the first time that morning he looked at her bedside table and picked up the pitcher of water and poured a glass for her. When he picked up the glass he saw the paper stuck to the bottom and looked at it, ' _Paul, want to know was he in hospital, something to do with work_ '. Confused as he looked at the note he passed both things to her, "What's with the note?"

Slowly sipping on the drink she stared at the note in her hands, what did it mean? She didn't remember what the contents meant and it was bothering her, "I didn't write this, somebody wrote it for me."

Carefully removing the note from her hand he read it over again and it all slowly came back to him, she had asked him if he had been in hospital as he hadn't been to work in months. If he lied it would prolong her misery and potentially do her memory harm as she desperately tried to remember what it was but it would definitely frustrate her.

If he just answered her as most as he was comfortable saying then it would prevent him getting an earful from the professionals. "What if I possibly remember what you might want to know?"

Her face lit up and she nodded her head, or started to but stopped as the pain hit her. "Please, it must have bothered me if they wrote me a note."

"Before I left last night we were talking about my job and I mentioned that I hadn't been to work in a few months."

She reached her hand out and was happy when he took it and sat down beside her. "So were you in hospital then?"

How much did he actually say to her? Did he tell her that somebody he loved was or did he bluff his way through an explanation? The squeeze to his hand and the support that he saw in her eyes made his decision for him. "It wasn't me in hospital, it was somebody that I loved. If it is all the same to you though I would prefer not to talk about it right now."

As much as she couldn't remember, the last thing that she wanted to do was make him feel bad when he did so much for her. "I'm sorry for asking, it wasn't my place."

Leaning over he pressed a kiss to the side of her head, "It's okay, I can understand why you asked."

The Nurse interrupted their conversation but Stephanie didn't release his hand as she asked her questions, instead she played with his fingers. It was whilst she was playing with his fingers that she came across his wedding band, her finger trailed across it and she twisted it a little before she left it alone and moved her hand to link their fingers together. She didn't recognise that it was a wedding band, as far as she was aware it was just a ring that he wore.

Paul was relaxing listening to the Nurse ask questions as Stephanie played with his fingers but as she moved to play with his wedding ring he was about to pull his hand away when she moved away from it and much to his relief didn't seem bothered by it at all, that was not a conversation he wanted to be having.

When the Nurse left neither of them spoke, they didn't need to as they were comfortable together.

It was only a couple of minutes later when the Nurse returned, "I have painkillers and somebody to see you. The Physio has come to give you exercises for your neck."

"Oh, okay." Reluctantly releasing Paul's hand she took her painkillers as this was bound to hurt a lot.

As the Physio was there he felt awkward about staying. "I'm going to go and grab some lunch whilst the Physio is here, if you'll be okay."

"Yeah sure, no problem. Will you be back?"

"Of course. To prove it I will even bring you lunch back with me. What would you like?"

"Don't know, don't mind. Surprise me."

Chuckling softly he nodded his head, "One surprise coming up. Be good and I will be back later."

She couldn't help but smile at him as he left the room, she really liked spending time with him, he made her feel normal.


	11. Chapter 11

As soon as he had eaten Paul made his way back up to ICU with an extra sandwich for Stephanie. The second that he was buzzed in he had a Nurse stood in front of him, "What? If she's still with the Physio I don't care, I will sit here quietly like a good boy and you won't even know that I am here."

"It isn't your presence; it is the food you are bringing in with you. You should know by now that food and drinks are frowned upon."

"It isn't for me, it is for Stephanie." The urge to roll his eyes was strong, he wasn't an idiot and by now they should realise that he knew the rules and mostly adhered to them, "I thought that it would be nice for her to have something different for her lunch, I stupidly thought that it might brighten her up a little."

Maybe she had been premature in assuming that he was just flouting the rules because he felt like he could. "You should have asked first, she is still on a soft diet due to the tube down her throat so she may not even been able to eat that."

Again with the assumptions, he knew that she wouldn't be able to have anything that would irritate her throat. "That would be why it is pita bread with the softest ingredients that they had. I do think before I do things, honest I do."

"I'm sorry, it's just automatic to assume that the family don't think of these things as they see the patient getting better and just expect everything to be alright."

"It's fine, I'm not mad. Is the Physio still in with her?"

That was a very good question; she had spent most of the last hour with a different patient so wasn't aware of the comings and goings. "I truthfully don't know so you'll have to look through the window and see."

"Not a problem, I can definitely spy on them."

Shaking her head she chuckled softly, "Just be good."

He had no intentions of being bad so that would be easy. With sandwich in hand he made his way over to the window in the door and spotted the Physio still in there working with Stephanie so he took a seat outside and waited.

No more than ten minutes later and the Physio was leaving the room so whilst they went to talk to the Nurses he slipped in to the room, "How was it?"

"Painful." A soft pout adorned her face as she thought about exactly how painful it had been but she was hoping that it would be worth it. "How was your lunch?"

Shrugging his shoulders he moved to pull the table further up the bed, "Okay I guess, it was food and that is all I really have to say on the matter. I did bring you back some lunch though." Once the table was in front of her he placed the sandwich down, "I am hoping that you like it and can eat it, I already had it in the neck from one of the Nurses because apparently I am a very bad boy for bringing you this."

"She should try eating the hospital food." Eagerly unwrapping the sandwich she immediately noticed how appetising it looked, "This looks so good, thank you."

"Hopefully it tastes as good as you think it looks."

"I'm sure that it will, thank you Paul." She was about to pick up her sandwich to eat it when she noticed him smiling, "What? I haven't eaten anything yet so can't have anything on my face."

It wasn't intentional that he was smiling but that was the second time today that she had called him by his name. "It's nothing."

"It's something; you don't smile like an idiot for no reason." It was bothering her because she didn't know what she had said or done for him to smile like that so it made her nervous that she had forgotten something.

Unsure whether to be offended that she said he was smiling 'like an idiot' or not he perched himself on the edge of the bed, "It's a really silly thing but that's the second time you have called me by my name today."

Her eyes widened at the revelation, if you asked her what his name was she couldn't tell you but she was calling him by it now? "I have? I had no idea. To be honest I can't remember your name so it's my subconscious."

"I'll take your subconscious doing it. I just think it is really cool so don't mind me."

It was cool to her too, if not a little strange but the past couple of days everything seemed strange to her so it was becoming the norm.

Paul moved from the bed to the seat beside it and allowed her to eat her lunch in silence.

Once she finished eating she screwed the wrapper up in to a ball ready to go in the trash, "That was delicious, thank you."

She opened her mouth again to talk to him about the dreams she was having lately as they wouldn't leave her mind but before she could get the words out a Nurse appeared in the doorway, "It is time for you to be measured for your back brace."

Although the Doctor had said 'tomorrow' for this he had really had his doubts that this would happen today so now he was a little disappointed, "I guess I will leave you to it again."

He couldn't leave her again, he was always leaving her today and she just wanted to be with him as he made everything better. "Does he have to leave?"

"Not unless you want this to be private, it is entirely up to you."

"Please stay Paul."

It was hard not to notice how clingy she was becoming today but he put it down to tiredness and pain as she hadn't slept the night before and had had some Physio on her neck. "I'll stay. If I get in the way at all just tell me to move okay?"

"If only all of the families were as understanding as you are. I promise to try and be quick and gentle but please bear with me."

Fifteen minutes later and Stephanie was in even more pain than she had been before this and she was also now struggling to keep her eyes open.

Paul was no idiot, he could see how much the colour had drained from her face and how her eyes were hardly staying open and it made him feel so bad for her. "I see a nap in your near future."

Stifling a yawn she was probably going to fall asleep no matter how hard she tried to stay awake but at this moment it was not going to be a very restful sleep. "Can you ask if I can have any more painkillers please? These people are trying to kill me today."

"Actually I think they are trying to make you more comfortable." The icy glare that he received in response to his comment had him quickly backtracking, "I'm going to go and see about those painkillers now."

Although she was struggling to stay awake she was also far too uncomfortable to actually fall asleep so just lay there staring at the ceiling whilst she waited for him to return.

After he eventually found a Nurse they promised to bring some painkillers in to her in a moment so returning to the room he sat on the edge of the bed, "They'll bring you some painkillers now and then you can nap and wake up in no pain."

"If only that was true, being in pain all of the time sucks. Unless you are a male witch who will cast a spell on me whilst I'm asleep to take the pain away."

"Do I look like a witch?"

She didn't lift her head off the pillow to look at him but she did smirk, "Well you never know these days."

"You are so mean to me, how could you?" Now that the sedatives seemed to be out of her system for the most part he was getting glimpses of the person that she really was and he liked her, he could see himself being friends with her if they had met under different circumstances outside of here.

As the Nurse entered the room she felt like she was intruding on the two of them, "Shall I leave and come back or something?"

"No no, don't do that. Stephanie was just saying that I could be a male witch, she is charming to me."

The Nurse smiled as she handed over the painkillers, "I think you may be on to something Stephanie."

"Hey! You two can't gang up on me or I will have to leave."

"No! Please don't leave, I'm sorry."

He had only been joking so he was surprised with the panic that she had reacted with, "It's okay, I was only joking, I wasn't actually going to leave. Are you okay?"

She didn't want to talk about the dreams now so taking the painkillers she got comfortable in bed again. "Yeah, fine, just sore. Can you at least stay until I fall asleep please?"

As the Nurse left she exchanged weird looks with Paul before pulling the door closed behind her.

Moving to sit back in the chair beside the bed he reached for her hand and held it gently. "Unless you end up sleeping for a good few hours then I should be here when you wake up otherwise I will be back in the morning."

"Thank you." Squeezing his hand gently she closed her eyes and let the tiredness take over.

He wasn't sure how long she had been asleep for because Paul had closed his eyes and was enjoying peace and quiet as he continued to hold her hand in her sleep when all of a sudden her hand was pulled from his.

"No! . . . What's going on?!"

Quickly looking up he was confused to see her still with her eyes closed so assumed it was a dream, he contemplated waking her up but it may pass quickly, hopefully. His eyes remained glued to Stephanie and the second she started moving in the bed he moved to sit on the edge of the bed and gently prodded her shoulder not wanting to allow her to hurt herself.

"Where are they? Why can't I see them?"

Prodding her a little more forcefully and repeatedly he waited until her eyes flew open before he stopped prodding and just sat there.

Her eyes flew open and panicked she looked around the room eventually laying her eyes on Paul who she gripped he arm of tightly as the tears started to fall down her cheeks.

Instead of making a joke about not normally having that effect on women he just bent down and hugged her tightly as she looked like she needed it right now.

Holding on tightly she didn't want to let him go, she was so freaked out from her dream that her heart was racing and it was replaying over and over in her head.

After a minute of holding her tightly Paul slowly pulled back relieved to see that she wasn't crying any more but she still looked incredibly freaked out. "Stupid question but are you okay?"

"I don't know. I keep having these dreams and they are so vivid and they are getting more and more lifelike but the details are always so blurry. Can you just hold me please?"

Without hesitation he moved around on the bed and carefully pulled her in to his arms so that he could hold her, "Better."

"Yes thank you." Relaxing against him she wanted to go back to sleep but she was far too afraid to. "Do you know what happened to me?"

If she meant the accident then he did know but he was pretty sure he shouldn't say anything to her because he would end up in deep trouble. "In what way?"

"How I ended up here and stuff." Stephanie was getting sick of her questions being dodged, she couldn't remember much but she was positive that every question she asked was not being answered properly.

Sighing heavily he didn't know what to say to her as avoiding her questions all of the time was causing the guilt to start to gnawing at his stomach, there were only so many times that it could happen before he cracked. "Why are you worrying now about what happened to you?"

"Because I'm having these dreams." Nerves took over and she began to play with the blanket on the bed.

He sensed that there was more that she wanted to say so he just stayed silent and allowed her to talk not wanting to interrupt.

"In my dreams it is like I am in a plane but it's not flying, it's falling. In these dreams I'm calling out for my parents and somebody called Shane but I am all alone. The dreams are getting more vivid and they're beginning to scare the living daylights out of me."

That explained why she seemed so freaked out, she was dreaming about the accident and there was nothing that he could to stop the dreams or to make her feel better about it. It was all real and nothing could soften the blow of what she was about to find out. "I don't think that there is anything that I can say about your dreams to make them better. Our minds are weird places and they like to throw us for a loop by torturing us in our sleep."

"But is it real? Is that why I am in here? Where are my family? No offense but as much as I like your company I don't remember ever seeing anybody but you."

He couldn't keep doing this to her, he couldn't keep not answering her questions because it seemed like it was just making things worse for her. "If I answer any of those questions I will get in so much trouble with your Doctor and they may not ever let me come back to visit you and I kind of like coming to see you."

Resting her head back against his shoulder a little more she sighed heavily, as much as she wanted the answers she wanted his company more. "Is there anything that you can tell me? I probably won't remember it but still, just knowing that I'm not going crazy would help. I don't want to take sleeping tablets but the dreams are making sleeping a chore for me as I don't know what will pop up next."

Not daring to move most of his body an inch so that he didn't hurt her he reached across with his free arm and rubbed her arm gently, "There is some truth to what you are dreaming about. I wish I could make them go away for you."

"It's okay, it's not like you made my brain so messed up that I can't remember anything and am now having weird dreams that are probably the pieces to a puzzle I don't know how to put together. I don't want to be awake any more today, I also don't want to be asleep, they're both as bad as each other."

For the first time since she had woken up Paul truly saw Stephanie to be in a funk and he didn't know how to break her from it. "Why don't you just try to sleep again and you might feel better when you wake up."

"I guess, maybe I will get some more pieces to the puzzle and will be able to start putting things together. I'm sorry that my company sucks today, I'm either sleeping or being tortured by people."

"It's okay." Slowly and very carefully he shifted to a more comfortable position on the edge of the bed allowing her to rest her head back against his chest and for him to be able to have one arm around her waist and the other resting on the bed but she soon pulled that a little closer to her so that she could hold it as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

As he would be laying here for a little while Paul closed his eyes for a minute to make the most of relaxing before he went back to work on Monday.

The next thing he knew was when somebody was gently shaking his shoulder, "Paul."

His eyes fluttered open and he looked around confused until he finally settled on the Doctor stood beside the bed, "Can I help?"

"Are you okay lying there? It doesn't look entirely comfortable and I was worried about you when I came in to check on her and saw the position that you were in."

He glanced down at the woman laying in his arms to make sure that she was asleep before he looked back at the Doctor, "It isn't the most comfortable I have ever been but if she is sleeping then it will do. Stephanie is dreaming of the accident and she is asking more questions so I had to be honest with her and tell her that if I answered the questions then I would probably be kicked out and never let back in."

The Doctor knew that the day would come where she had memories returning but he didn't realise that they would come in her sleep. "So is she actually remembering things?"

"No, not exactly. She seems to be having nightmares and there are bits of pieces from the accident appearing in them. I had to wake her up from her nap earlier as she was particularly distressed and was beginning to move about and then when she woke up she was freaked out by it all hence me being here. As far as I know she hasn't had a nightmare since she fell asleep again but then I apparently fell asleep myself so it's possible but I don't think that she has been moving about as I am sure that I would have felt it."

It was not exactly the news that the Doctor wanted to hear right now as he still wasn't sure about the long term prognosis for her memory however he had to think of the bigger picture for her and her health. "I think I will have to tell her the truth about everything. I know that she has been relying on you a lot for support so will you be around if she needs you? I will give her the opportunity for you to be there when I talk to her so I will do that when you are visiting, if you will be continuing to."

"I am going back to work on Monday but I will be visiting every night and all weekends until she gets sick of the sight of me." Paul was dreading her finding out the truth about everything but it had to be done and maybe, hopefully, once they told her it would stop the dreams but he had a feeling that it wouldn't and he really hated seeing her so distressed.

"I can't see her getting sick of the sight of you but even if she does thank you for everything that you have done for her. I will leave the two of you alone now though but call if she needs anything, especially painkillers as I see she has had two doses of painkillers."

"That would be because of the Physio and them measuring for the back brace but I will do, if she wakes up before I leave anyway."

The Doctor frowned at that information but nodded his head, "I will talk to the Nurses about maybe giving painkillers before the next Physio session and also to grant them permission to administer something to help Stephanie sleep if she becomes distressed again so call if you need anything."

"Will do." He watched the Doctor leave before he turned his head to look down at Stephanie who seemed to still be fast asleep so he began to mentally plot out a list of things that she would need if she was able to move around the hospital in a wheelchair and to make her feel better about herself so that he could go and buy them for her tomorrow.


	12. Chapter 12

Paul didn't stay at the hospital late on Saturday because Stephanie was obviously struggling so he wanted to let her sleep whilst she could and hope that it was a restful sleep and she had no more flashbacks.

Before he went in to the hospital on Sunday he went shopping and stocked up on a whole load of stuff that he thought that Stephanie might need or find useful so when he walked in to ICU he was toting two big bags full of things.

"Are you moving in Paul?"

"Ha ha, very funny Cassie." Poking his tongue out at her he opened the one bag for her to see inside, "I bought some supplies for Stephanie that I thought that she may find useful."

Before she thought about what she was saying the question tumbled from her lips, "Why?"

". . . Why not?" He was so confused by the question; it wasn't as if Stephanie had any family of her own to bring this stuff.

"It is one thing to visit her all of the time but now to buy her things too, aren't you getting in a bit deep?" She swore that she would make sure to protect him from getting hurt and she was damned sure that she was going to keep that promise.

Understanding where she was coming from he quickly wanted to shut this down so that there was no misunderstandings. "It isn't anything expensive, it's like some toiletries, a dressing gown, some socks to keep her feet warm, some slippers and one of those neck pillow things as I thought it might be comfortable for her once she had done the exercises on her neck as yesterday she was in a lot of pain."

"Oh. I should let you go and see her."

He wasn't going to argue at the subject being dropped so smiled and said his thanks before walking past her. When he entered Stephanie's room he noticed her sitting up more in bed and wearing a brace, "Well you weren't wearing that yesterday."

"Hey! They felt sorry for me and rushed through this thing. It is uncomfortable but they said that I can get out of bed now."

Her happiness was infectious and he couldn't help but smile as he placed the bags on the bed, "Not that you want to get out of bed or anything right?"

Failing to pick up on the sarcasm she frowned a little, "I do, a lot." Quickly changing the subject she was intrigued by the bags, "What did you buy? Wait, is that too nosey?"

She was so adorable that she made him smile a little wider, "Not nosey at all, not seeing as this is stuff for you."

"That is a lot of stuff and I don't have any money to pay you."

Being paid was the last thing on his agenda so he just began to pull things from the bags, "So we have some dry shampoo as you probably can't get in a shower but you can wash your hair, if it'll make you happy, there is a toothbrush and toothpaste, I don't know what you normally go for so I went with a mild mint, I also got you a hairbrush and a couple of hair ties so that you can tie your hair back if you want."

"You're so sweet. How can I repay you when I don't have money?"

"I didn't do this for money; I did this because I thought these things might be useful to you. It's not like I paid the earth for them though so don't worry. Do you want to know what is in the other bag?"

Asking to know what was in the other bag did feel nosey to her so she hesitated before she answered, "I'll say no, I don't need to know what you bought yourself."

Trying not to dwell on the fact that she had clearly forgotten that he had just told her that all of the stuff was for her he started to pull things out. "Okay so first we have some fluffy socks; they're cute and hopefully warm. I got you some slippers because I thought that would be preferable when transferring in and out of the wheelchair to making the bottoms of your socks dirty. I got you a neck pillow so that it can support your neck if you're in a lot of pain with it, I don't know if it will actually help but I tried right?" As he tried to pull the last thing out of the bag he struggled which only made Stephanie giggle as she watched him fighting with a plastic bag, "So mean, you're not meant to laugh at my misery."

"But it's funny seeing a grown man fighting with a stupid plastic bag. You'll get it though."

With one final pull he smiled triumphantly, "Aha! Paul one, plastic bag nil."

She attempted to shake her head as she rolled her eyes but quickly stopped the movement as it sent a few twinges up her neck, "You're silly."

"I'm triumphant, I'm not silly. Now that I have finally gotten it out of the bag I can show you your final gift, I got you a hopefully warm dressing gown to keep you nice and cosy when you are out of bed. I was going to get you some pyjamas too so that you could wear something other than the nasty hospital gowns but I didn't know your size so didn't want to offend you by taking a guess."

"It's a good thing that I don't know my size either then so there is no possibility of offending me. You really shouldn't have bought me all of this; it is just too kind of you."

It felt awkward with her thanking so much; it really was nothing what he had done for her so he didn't see how it was such a big deal for her. Moving the toiletries from the bed he placed them in the locker beside the bed and placed the ties and the brush on the top of it. "Hopefully one of the Nurses can help you brush your hair because I really don't want to hurt you. As for the dressing gown and socks I will place them on the end of the bed so that we can put them in a better place when we speak to somebody."

"Thank you. How long are you staying today?"

"Most of the day, or until you kick me out. Actually, I have an idea, I'll be back." Quickly leaving the room he was on a mission to seek out Cassie so as he left the room and saw the empty desk he turned to walk a little further down the corridor to look for her.

As she exited a patient's room after checking on them she was surprised to see Paul this far down, "Everything okay? You don't normally come down this far."

"I was looking for you; do you have a minute please?"

"Maybe, it depends what you want?"

"A favour. I wondered if you could maybe brush Steph's hair for me and maybe tie it up if she wants; I also wondered if it would be possible to take her on a trip down to the concourse for lunch? Just to allow her to get out of the room and do some people watching."

She was hesitant to allow her to go that far away because she was technically still in ICU and it would be a prolonged period away from any medical help that knew her case. "I am not sure about the whole lunch at the concourse thing but I will certainly brush her hair for her."

He was disappointed that his plan to cheer Stephanie up wouldn't be able to come together but at least she could get her hair brushed and hopefully would then feel better about herself. "Well that is better than nothing so thank you. I should get back to her and make sure that she's okay and not in too much pain with that back brace."

As much as she had wanted to say yes to his idea because she knew how much Stephanie needed the change of four walls her health had to come first. Having taken all of two steps she was stopped in her tracks by a tap on the shoulder, "Yes?"

"Was that Paul?"

Turning to face the Doctor she nodded her head, "It was. He wondered about taking Stephanie down to the concourse for lunch but I told him that it was unlikely to happen."

"I wouldn't be happy for them to go alone but if any of the Nurses are going on lunch at the same time and want to accompany them then I don't see there being a problem with that. I just don't think it would be wise with her having being laid down for so long for her to be sat in the wheelchair unaccompanied by medical staff like that, normally we build up to those times. Anyway, the real reason that I asked if it was Paul is because I am going to discuss Stephanie's accident with her. I bumped in to the Neuro Psychologist last night and she said that it was okay to do so and Paul mentioned that Stephanie was having nightmares so it's for the best."

Oh, there goes her plan to brush Stephanie's hair for her now that was free. "Let me know when you're done then and I'll brush her hair."

"Why don't you just come in and then I can leave you with her and you can answer most questions if she comes up with any."

"Sure." The two made their way together to the room, neither was particularly looking forward to breaking this news to her.

* * *

She didn't understand why he had hurried out of the room so when Paul did return she sighed with relief, "You came back."

"Yes I did, I just had to find Cassie to ask her a favour. She said that when she is free she will come and brush your hair for you so hopefully she will come by soon to see you."

"You didn't have to do that, thank you. I can't wait to get out of here and see people; I'm going to ask the Doctor when I see them, if I remember."

He felt bad that she was looking forward to getting out of the room so much and his plan to get her out of the room fell through spectacularly. Before he had the chance to respond to her there was a gentle knock at the door and as he turned around in his seat he saw the Doctor and Cassie, this could not be good.

"Stephanie, I would like to talk to you a minute if you are up to it."

Stephanie couldn't help but wonder why everybody looked so down, had she forgotten something again? "I guess, it's not like I'm going anywhere."

Moving to the end of the bed the Doctor glanced briefly to the side at Paul who sat there with a blank look on his face before he looked back at Stephanie to deliver the devastating news to her. "I spoke to Paul briefly yesterday; he told me that you were having some bad dreams."

"They're not really bad; they're just really weird and lifelike and freak me out." She didn't even remember telling Paul about them but if she did then she must have mentioned not sleeping to him, "I'm not taking any sleeping pills."

"Don't worry; I'm not here to give you sleeping tablets. I came in here to discuss the dreams and to find out exactly what it is that you are dreaming about."

It was funny how she couldn't remember telling Paul about the dreams but she could remember every single detail of the actual dreams. Reaching for Paul's hand she clutched it tightly not wanting to relive it without his comfort. "It's mostly dark and I can't see much but I'm in this plane and it's like falling out of the sky or something and I am looking for and calling out to my parents and somebody called Shane. It's always variations of this exact same scene although one time I was walking and the ground seemed to disappear from beneath my feet and I hit my head on something really hard."

If the Doctor had any doubts about what Paul said he certainly didn't now as she seemed to remember all of the important parts, she had just been unable to thread them all together. "What if I told you that I could make those memories clearer? I wasn't exactly planning on telling you this just yet but as you are remembering for yourself it's only fair. That memory that you have of a plane falling is real, it is why you are in here. All I know about your accident is that you were flying down to Florida, for what I don't know, the Police just said that that was the route the plane was meant to take, soon after you took off there was some sort of problem with the plane and it crash landed."

"Oh." So the dreams about the plane falling were real but were the people in the dream real? "Was I alone in the plane? In my dreams what I can see of it it is empty."

"You weren't alone; you did have family in the plane with you."

Paul could just sit there silently and stroke the back of her hand with his thumb hoping to comfort her, she was awfully quiet but he knew that it was a lot to take in and it was only going to get worse.

"What happened to them?"

He had hoped that she wasn't going to ask this, he knew that she was likely to but a small part of him had hoped that she would be so overwhelmed by the information that she wouldn't. "Sadly they all passed away. From what I was led to believe you were towards the back of the plane and everybody else was towards the front."

This information certainly explained why she didn't remember seeing anybody but Paul. "I see. Was it my entire family or had I had a falling out with siblings or something?"

"From what I have been told you had one brother and a sister-in-law and both of them along with your parents were on the plane and died in the crash. An appeal went out in the media looking for any family or friends that may know you and not a single person came forward so we are only able to piece together details of your life that we know from the flight and what little information work colleagues were able to give us. I think that is enough information for me to give you today though, I don't want to make your brain explode when it is already recovering from the damage it received."

Stephanie couldn't help but smile a little at the mention of her brain exploding; he was certainly pretty close to being on the money there as her head was starting to hurt. "I don't know if I will remember any of that but right now you made me feel better about things so thank you."

Knowing that she was feeling better about things made him feel better because although it was part of what his job was all about when it was something big and bad like that he never knew how people would react to it and if he would get the brunt of their anger at the situation. "Good, I'm glad. I do have some good news for you now though; well I hope that it is good news for you anyway. Now that you have your back brace I am happy for you to move to sit in a chair and for you to make trips around the hospital grounds eventually. Before you do go making trips around the hospital I need you to build up your time sat up so that I know that your body can deal with it after being lying down and with the damage to your body."

"Starting today?"

He couldn't help but smile at the excitement on her face, "Starting today. I should get on but any problems or questions you know where I am."

Once the Doctor had left Cassie waited a second to see if Stephanie would say anything but when she didn't she decided to bring it up. "So I spoke to Paul and he suggested that maybe you would like your hair brushing. Would that be something you would appreciate?"

"You're busy; you don't have time for that."

"I always have time for my favourite patient. It's okay though, unless an alarm goes off then it is all covered. So where is there a brush for me?"

Paul held up the brush and hair ties for her, "I have a brush and hair ties here, I also bought some dry shampoo for when her neck is stronger."

"You are thoughtful aren't you?" Taking the brush from his hands she placed it on the bed before she carefully lifted Stephanie's head and pulled her hair out to fan it across the pillow allowing her to gently brush her hair without pulling on her head and neck too much.

Stephanie was so grateful that she could keep her head on the pillow as she brushed her hair because she didn't think that she could cope with the pain of her pulling on it.

Silently brushing her hair Cassie thought over what Paul had asked of her and what the Doctor had said. Once her hair was brushed thoroughly she stepped back, "That looks better, does it feel better? Would you like me to tie your hair back so it is nice and presentable?"

"It feels much better thank you. Could you tie it back please? If Paul will take me for a walk later it would look better."

Cassie knew that he would do anything for the other woman but she wanted to do something nice for her as it was much better to see her looking brighter. "Well I was thinking the three of us could have lunch on the concourse, if you want to go that far."

"Really?!"

She couldn't help but laugh at how surprised they both were, "Yes. The Doctor said that this could only happen if you had medical supervision and as you both seem to kind of like me I thought that I was the perfect person to make your dream come true."

"I can't wait, thank you . . ." Trailing off she couldn't remember her name and it instantly soured her good mood.

"It's my pleasure." She saw the way her smile turned to a frown but she wasn't sure what it was all about but she didn't have time to find out. "I need to go and check on another patient but I will be back in a bit so that we can transfer you to a wheelchair and get some lunch.

Paul trailed Cassie as she left the room, "You basically told me no when I asked you about that."

"I know and it wouldn't be happening if I wasn't coming with you. When you left me earlier the Doctor came and I asked him about what you wanted and he said that it could only happen right now with medical supervision so I am technically giving up my lunch to make this happen for her."

Feeling guilty for the way he approached her he sighed softly, "I'm sorry, I guess I'm a little sensitive today. I didn't mean to have a go at you."

There was a sense of guilty hanging heavy in the air and she really didn't mean to make him feel like that because she knew that everything he was doing he was doing to try and make Stephanie happy. "It's fine Paul, really it is. I can understand why you asked the question and it wasn't as if you were rude so cut yourself some slack. Just relax and go and spend some time with Stephanie, I think she could use some cheering up or at least some distraction therapy right now as her mood soured quickly after she trailed off when she thanked me."

His face fell at the news hearing that. If she was beating herself up over not remembering something again he might just have to write her a list, "Not again. Thanks Cassie and again I'm sorry."

She watched him hurry back in to the room and sighed heavily, she was no idiot, she just hoped that what her gut was telling her was wrong otherwise she might have to step in and stop him visiting if he was actually falling for Stephanie.


	13. Chapter 13

This is for **hhhfangirl** , thank you for the nudge to finish and post it.

* * *

After Cassie left and when Paul eventually returned he helped Stephanie put on her cute and fluffy socks so that she would feel better about being around people and then they would cover her back brace with the dressing gown so she would not feel self conscious about it at all.

Sat on the edge of the bed he rubbed her leg gently, "So how excited are you about getting to get out of this room?"

"So excited. I can have real food and see people walking by." The only thing she had failed to tell Paul was her fear of being stared at, she didn't want him to convince the Nurse it wasn't the right time as she really wanted it.

Just over an hour later Cassie pushed a wheelchair in to the room followed closely by another nurse, "Ready?"

"Maybe?"

The fear and apprehension that was clear on Stephanie's face made a lot of sense to Cassie, why wouldn't she be worried when she hadn't seen a single person outside of Paul and medical staff for as long as she could remember. "It'll be okay and if it is too much we'll just bring you back sooner okay?"

"Thanks." Despite the assurances she was still nervous as the two Nurses helped her sit at the side of the bed as they put the dressing gown on for her and then manoeuvred her in to the wheelchair.

Once Stephanie was safely in the wheelchair Cassie thanked the other nurse for her help before she turned to Paul, "I assume you want to push?"

"I will leave that up to Stephanie and if she trusts me to push the wheelchair and not run her in to any walls or door frames."

As weird as it sounded in her head being pushed in a wheelchair by Paul felt so special and she would like that a lot but didn't want to sound too eager, "Only if you don't mind."

The way that she said it with a light blush on her cheeks made him smile, "Sure, we're both going the same way and I promise not to go too fast." Taking a firm grip on the handles of the wheelchair he slowly spun her around to wheel her out of the room and out of ICU for an hour.

* * *

It didn't take them long to go from ICU to the concourse but every step of the way Cassie kept an eye on Stephanie to make sure that she was okay and she seemed to be which was a relief.

Paul wasn't sure where to eat so when they reached the concourse he moved to bend down beside her, "Where would you like to eat?"

Being sat up in the back brace was a little uncomfortable and she was feeling restricted but she wasn't sure whether that was the back brace or the nerves at being in public wearing it, even if people couldn't see it. "The place with the softer food please."

"What about a Subway again? You can get a toasted pita bread with whatever fillings you fancy."

Nodding her head she winced at the stiffness she still had in it that caused pain to shoot up to her head at the movement, "That sounds nice please."

Happy to make her happy he stood up to wheel her over to Subway, "We're going to grab a Subway a minute. I'm not sure what you're having but we can just meet back here if you want?"

"I was actually going to grab an Italian B.M.T from Subway so it looks like I will be following you there."

"Don't you trust me with her?"

Cassie couldn't help but laugh at him, "Trust me, if I didn't trust you with her we wouldn't have even got this far so hurry up before we wear Stephanie out too much."

Mock saluting her he pushed the wheelchair towards Subway avoiding the people who darted across in front of him seemingly begging to get their legs chopped off.

When they reached Subway he allowed Cassie to go first so that it gave Stephanie time to look at what they had and decide what she wanted. By the time it was their turn to be served she had pointed out to Paul exactly what she wanted so he was able to rattle off both of their orders.

The second that he had paid for their sandwiches and drinks he passed them to Stephanie for her to hold on her lap whilst he pushed the wheelchair to find Cassie and then to search out somewhere to sit. Half of the trouble was done and over with when he exited Subway and spotted Cassie sat down.

Wheeling Stephanie over to where there was a seat for him he parked her between himself and Cassie and put the brakes on the wheelchair, "Thanks for finding this Cassie."

"Not a problem, I thought it was nice and out of the way but close enough that Stephanie can people watch." Having said that there was something she needed to know before they settled down to eat, "How are you Steph? Are you comfortable and able to breathe properly?"

"I'm fine; I can breathe fine and can't feel pain so I must be okay."

"Can I eat now Nurse Cassie?" Paul was hungry and just wanted lunch if it was alright with her.

Both women laughed at him which just made him pout and snatch his sandwich from Stephanie's lap, "Rude, you are both so rude."

"Awww poor baby, did we hurt your feelings?"

He glared at Cassie, "I will hurt more than your feelings if you're not nicer to me."

She couldn't quite tell if he was joking or not but didn't want there to be a chance that he was serious, "Play nice you two please, we're in public."

"Don't worry, he wouldn't try anything anyway, he is too much of a nice guy."

"Or am I? I was only playing with her I promise, we're not going to do anything because, and I only speak for myself here, I am more interested in my lunch." Before he opened his own lunch he reached across and helped to open Stephanie's lunch for her out of instinct before he turned his attention to his own lunch.

* * *

She was about halfway through her lunch when she was beginning to get uncomfortable, there was somebody to the side who kept staring at her and it was incredibly unnerving. "Paul?"

"Mmhmm?" A mouthful of sandwich didn't make it easy to reply but he did his best.

Maybe she was overreacting because it was her first time in public but she didn't feel like she was as she just felt creeped out. Even though she felt so uncomfortable it took her a minute to pluck up the courage to actually say something to Paul. "There is a guy over there who is staring at me or us or something."

He lifted his head and looked around to see if he could see anybody, almost immediately spotting somebody he frowned and practically shoved his sandwich in to Stephanie's lap as he stood up and stalked over to him. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, um . . . that's Stephanie McMahon right?"

Suspicious of his motives he crossed his arms defensively, "What's it to you who she is?"

Shrinking back a little under his gaze he felt like he was about to get punched, "I, uh, I know her, well knew. I worked for her parents and one summer towards the end of her College stint she worked with me. I know I have grown a beard since she last saw me but she looked at me totally blank, she doesn't remember anything does she?"

He didn't know him and he certainly didn't trust him so he wasn't about to divulge her medical information to him. "I can't talk about that with you. What do you want?"

"I really just wanted to say hi and give her my condolences and wish her well." Fishing in his pocket he removed his wallet and pulled out a business card before he handed it to Paul, "If you or Stephanie want to talk or know anything about her family then call me. I am back and forth the hospital at the minute as my Mom has broken her hip so I'm always in the area."

"Thank you . . ." Glancing at the business card briefly he then looked up, ". . . Joshua. It is early days in her recovery at the moment but I will keep your card and when she is stronger if she wants to talk to you I will call you."

"Not a problem, I'm sorry for scaring her." The two men shook hands before they walked away.

As he walked back to the girls he slipped the card in to his pocket. "Don't worry about him Steph, he thought you looked familiar."

"Thought or is?"

Taking his seat back beside her he removed his sandwich from her lap, "You don't need to worry about him, he's gone and nobody else will bother you."

Although she wasn't happy she dropped the subject and the three of them ate the rest of their lunch in silence.

* * *

When they had finished Paul screwed all of the paper up and threw it in to the trash before he sat down again, "Have you enjoyed yourself today?"

The smile that came to her face at his question was wide. She had enjoyed herself so much, apart from the one incident she had really had a nice time being out of her room and seeing other people and surprisingly not many had stared at her which made it easier for her. "Yes thank you. Thank you to you both for doing this for me, I needed this even if I now kind of hurt."

"That's it, back to the unit and bed right this second for you. Come on Paul."

He knew when not to argue with a woman and that tone of voice told him argue and you'll get your head bitten off. Standing up he removed the brakes on her wheels, "I will try to avoid as many people with death wishes as possible and keep the ride as smooth as it can be so that I don't cause you any more pain."

She couldn't help the light blush that stained her cheeks as he talked about taking such good care of her, "Thank you."

The walk back to ICU was mostly painless however the transfer from the wheelchair back to bed definitely was not painless so when she got back in bed she sank down in it and didn't want to move.

Cassie didn't even ask if she wanted painkillers, she simply went to get her some and returned presenting her with them, "Take these and relax."

Eyeing the pills suspiciously she wasn't sure what they were, she still didn't want to take sleeping tablets.

"They're painkillers; trust me I won't be giving you anything to take without your express consent."

Now she felt guilty for assuming the worst, it didn't help that she couldn't remember any great details so struggled to trust her instincts or anybody that presented her with anything because they could just be manipulating her. She was definitely over thinking things now so took the painkillers and quickly took them, they were probably going to knock her out and it would be a good thing for her at this point.

Paul sat beside Stephanie holding her hand as she drifted off to sleep at which point he extracted his hand and walked out of the room to find Cassie. Spotting her at the Nurses desk talking with one of the other Nurses working today he walked over and stood in front of them and whilst he waited for them to finish their conversation he removed the card from her pocket.

"Is everything okay Paul?" She had wanted to ask him about the gentleman at lunch for a while but Stephanie had needed him so she was going to catch him on his way out but it looked like she wasn't alone in wanting to talk to the other.

"So this guy at lunchtime said he knew Stephanie and her family, he said he worked closely with her one summer but has since left her family business. He gave me his card and said if I or Stephanie wants to talk to him then he is in the area a lot at the minute as his Mom is in hospital and he is willing to talk. I know that Stephanie won't be up to talking to him for a long time, if ever, but I was wondering if it would be a good idea for me to talk to him and see what I can learn from him that he knows about her?"

That certainly explained why he had been staring but it left them with a big dilemma as the last thing she wanted to do was to draw him further in to Stephanie's life than he needed to be because he had been dealing with more than enough with his own life. "I'll be honest Paul; I don't know if it is a wise idea, you really don't need to be drawn deeper in to her life than you already are. You have a lot going on and you're going back to work tomorrow so it isn't like you really have the time to be bothering with it."

"I have all of the time in the world Cass, it isn't like I have anything but work going on. What exactly is wrong with me knowing more about her life and her family? Wouldn't it help us answer some of her questions?" Sliding the card back in to his pocket he had a feeling that she wasn't interested in seeing it.

Sighing heavily she was struggling with how to respond, he was stubborn and determined to help her but he was getting too deep and she was beginning to worry that he wasn't coping with his own grief and was going to spiral out of control before too long.

"What's wrong Cassie? Why can't you answer a simple question?"

"Because it isn't just a simple question, it is all of the little things that go along with that question." Cassie was beginning to think that just being completely honest and risking pissing him off was the best thing that she could do for both him and Stephanie. "I am concerned that you are getting yourself deeper and deeper in to Stephanie's life because you can't cope with your grief and you are just going to lose control and that is the last thing that I want to be responsible for."

How many times did he need to tell her that he dealt with his wife's death before he even lost her? They knew for the longest time that the chances of her surviving had been slim so he had prepared himself and had just taken the time off work to clear his mind. "I know that you don't believe me on this but I am actually doing okay, I am not about to have a breakdown. So what do you think about me talking to him?"

"I don't know." No matter what he said she still had her doubts that he was doing this for any reason but to forget so wasn't about to support him getting deeper in to Stephanie's life.

Opening his mouth to argue with her there was a scream that stopped everybody in their tracks; Paul knew exactly where the scream had come from though and rushed right in to Stephanie's room to check on her. The second he stepped inside the room he noticed the way she was thrashing about and flew over to the bed gently holding down her shoulders to prevent her from moving whilst he tried to wake her. "Stephanie, Stephanie wake up."

The faces that were plaguing her dream everywhere she turned in it were scary, inanimate objects were the faces and it was absolutely terrifying but suddenly she couldn't move and she could hear her name being called. Her eyes flew open and she was terrified, her heart was racing and she didn't have any idea where she was or what was going on.

As soon as she woke up and stopped thrashing Paul stepped back and watched her eyes dart around the room, that dream must have been really bad.

Being a Nurse and being more senior than Paul and knowing more Cassie stepped forward and gently placed her hand on Stephanie's arm, "It's okay, you're safe."

It took a couple of minutes before she even remembered where she was but remained as white as a sheet as she was still so terrified by her dream. "I'm never sleeping again."

Raising his eyebrow he couldn't help but wonder exactly how she planned to make that happen but it didn't seem like the smartest idea to him given her current predicament with her memory.

"If it is all the same to you I would like you to sleep please, your Doctor also wouldn't agree to you never sleeping again. Is there a particular reason that you don't want to sleep?"

Crossing her arms as she lay there in bed they couldn't make her sleep if she didn't want to.

The annoyance on the other woman's face told Cassie that it may be best for her to get out of there before she became her least favourite person in the hospital. "I will leave the two of you alone; call me if you need anything."

He waited until they were alone before he moved closer to the bed and sat on the edge of it, "So what happened?"

For what felt like an hour there was no words spoken between the two but eventually she realised that he wasn't going to let this go. "Everywhere I turned in my dream were faces, chairs were faces, tables were faces, and walls were faces. It was terrifying; I'm still terrified so you have no chance of making me go to sleep again."

Dreaming of faces made absolutely no sense to Paul but he had never had a head injury so that probably had a lot to do with it. "Are you sure I can't convince you to try sleep again?"

"Positive. You have a better chance of convincing the Doctor to let me go home today."

He would offer to give that a go if he hadn't already pushed his luck taking her to lunch. "Why don't we compromise? You don't need to go to sleep but you do need to relax so I would like you to lay there and try to relax okay?"

"I guess that would be okay. Would you come and sit with me please?"

"Of course." He was hoping that if she relaxed she would fall back to sleep so maybe him sitting with her would help that along so he was more than happy to do that. "Where would you like me?"

"Can you sit on the bed please?" Still entirely too freaked out by her dream she felt safe and protected with him so she was hoping that he would make her feel better again.

Perching himself on the edge of the bed he wrapped his arm loosely around her shoulder but tightened it as she carefully moved to rest against him. "Just relax okay? You had a big lunch and your body needs this."

She was already fighting to keep her eyes open but lifting her arm so that she could link her fingers between his for a little extra comfort and soon she was drifting off to sleep again.

He knew that allowing her to link their hands together meant that he was stuck and couldn't move but after her nightmare he was more than happy to sit here if she slept and didn't have any more nightmares. He knew that he didn't have that power over her subconscious but he was going back to work tomorrow and he wasn't going to have many opportunities to sit here for an extended period of time so he was going to make the most of hopefully being able to help her as he was to blame for how tired and uncomfortable she was.


	14. Chapter 14

It was 8:34 when Paul arrived at work; he was late but only by four minutes so hopefully Dan wouldn't fire him for that. He would have been on time if his sister hadn't called him just as he was about to leave the house to shout at him and to tell him how stupid he was being for continuing to spend time with Stephanie. He had ended up just hanging up on her and leaving the house, his phone had beeped since but he didn't dare look at what was likely to be an angry text from his sister.

"Paul!"

Being brought out of his daze he lifted his head and smiled, "Jessie, it's so good to see you."

"I could say the same. I didn't know you were coming back today, I did wonder why Dan was so fucking moody though when he came in this morning."

"Aww, he loves me?" Walking closer to her he leant on the reception desk, "So did you miss me?"

"Yes, a lot actually. I know you understand my hatred for Dan and mock him with me and I missed that. In all seriousness though, it really is good to see you back and you're looking so well. How are things?"

Good question and one that didn't come with a sympathetic look which was nice. "Things are good thanks. I have been helping out at the hospital so I have been kept busy. Talking of keeping busy though, I should go and see what work there is for me to do and hopefully it won't bore me to tears."

"Good luck, it sounds like you might need it."

* * *

Crossing the office towards his desk he waved at a few colleagues as they talked on the phone before he reached his desk and groaned upon seeing the stack of files, "Fan-fucking-tastic."

"Dan picked out a very special job for you apparently. Those are the clients that we have lost in the past few months, he wants you to call up every single one of them and see if you can convince them to come back to us."

He took a second to scan the files and quickly count the number before he turned his head to look at his Supervisor, "Are you fucking kidding me? In the few months that I have been away you have lost roughly fifteen contracts? How the fuck is that even possible Nick?"

"I don't think you need me to answer that question Paul, you already know it."

"Dan was a dick to them?"

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner." Nick glanced around the room to make sure that Dan wasn't anywhere around before he continued, "Between you and I, I have heard a rumour from a few friends who work at different companies that we might be losing another contract too and if we lose this contract we will probably all be looking for new jobs."

He didn't even need to ask for details, even after being off for a few months he knew exactly what contract he was talking about and he hated the idea of losing it. He had been so heavily involved in building that contract up to what it was and he absolutely adored working with them as their contact was an older lady with a lot of spirit who always made him smile.

Before he had a chance to speak up he felt a hand slap him on the shoulder and instantly he felt like he needed a shower, surely after everything he wouldn't be crazy to act all pally with him.

"It is so good to see you back Paul."

Apparently he had given him too much credit; he really was crazy enough to act like that. "Funny thing is I didn't have a choice in coming back, somebody said I either came back or I lost my job."

"So did you see what I wanted you to do? I thought that I would ease you back in with a simple job." He was going to rise above the snide remarks and not get in to it with him as he needed him to do this.

Picking up the top file Paul absently flicked through it, "Oh yeah I know, you want me to go and suck up to all of the people that you pissed off to save your ass by trying to convince them to come back, I'm just not so sure that I want to save your ass."

"You won't be saving my ass; you will be saving your job and keeping everybody else's job if you can convince some of these people to return to us."

He did believe that everybody's job relied on him doing this, it was why Dan was so insistent that he returned, he just wasn't convinced that Dan's ego was going to be willing to let somebody else take credit for it. "Your ass, my job, same thing really. I should get on with this as there are so many to get through. I have no idea how you managed to piss so many people off but wish me luck." Not waiting for him to have a chance to reply he pulled out his chair and took a seat to begin going through them all.

* * *

Before he actually called anybody Paul read through all of the files to put them in order of what could potentially be easiest and what could be hardest. Once he had the pile in order he stood up to stretch his legs and get a coffee as he desperately needed one, being back at work was not easy.

He made a small detour to reception but tryied to stay out of Dan's potential sight. "Jessie, do you want a coffee?"

"You are my hero Paul. Please can I have a coffee?"

"Of course." He was just about to go and make the coffees when he heard his name, hesitant about who he was going to see he began turning around slowly until he found the person calling his name, "Mrs King, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be retired?"

"You remembered?" She couldn't help but smile at the fact that he had dealt with so much and must have seen so many people but he remembered that tiny little detail about her. "I did retire, for about a week, I found that being retired was boring so I went back to work a couple of hours a few days a week to help out and to take the load off my sons. How are you doing? I was so sorry to hear about your wife." Instantly feeling guilty for bringing it up she frowned, "Sorry, I read about the accident in the paper and Dan mentioned that the reason he had taken over the file was because it was your wife."

Unable to stop himself rolling his eyes he sighed heavily, of course he couldn't keep his fat mouth shut. "I'm doing well thank you. It has been a trying few months but I have come out the other side and am doing something positive with myself. I should go back to work as I am sure Dan will be out soon."

"Actually . . . would you mind taking on the case again please? I wouldn't ask this of you as I'm sure you have more important things to be dealing with but well, I am actually here to tell Dan we're done working with you. My sons are far from impressed, they are actually incredibly unhappy with the work and want to find somebody new."

He had been told that his job was to get clients to come back to them so this would fall under that, technically. "Of course I will. Jessie is the file around?"

"Paul, Dan will be mad." She supported him sticking it to their boss, she just didn't want him to be fired and she knew once Dan found out about this he would hit the roof.

"I asked if the file was around."

Reluctantly she pulled the file out from beneath her desk, "Here you go, and on your head be it."

"Thank you." Taking the file he smiled politely before he turned and offered his arm to the older woman, "Mrs King?"

Taking his offered arm she clung to it tightly, "You are a polite young man."

"My Mom would be happy to hear that. Let's get you sat down and we can go over exactly what you are here for."

Once they were sat down he opened up the file and skipped right to the most recent notes and immediately rolled his eyes, no wonder they wanted to leave, he could easily cut their bill with one phone call. "So do you really want to leave us?"

"I don't." Opening her bag she removed the pieces of paper that she had brought with her and placed them on the desk, "But when my son shows me these invoices when we were supposed to be saving money he understandably wants out because he feels like we are being taken for a ride and we can't afford for the prices to go up this much."

"Would you be willing for me to try to lower those costs for you? I won't put anything in to place, I will print out details that you can take back to your sons and discuss with them and if you are all happy I will change it all over and if not then I will cancel it all for you."

This was why she liked working with Paul, he wasn't doing it for the money or the glory, he was doing it to help businesses. "I would be more than happy with that, thank you Paul."

"It is my pleasure."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later and he was escorting her back out to reception, "Now remember what I said, you have my number so if you or your sons have any problems or they just want to discuss it then call me and I will be more than happy to do that for them."

Turning to face him she hugged him tightly, "Thank you Paul, my sons will be so happy to hear that you are back and that you sorted this out."

"It was my pleasure."

He watched her closely as she left to make sure that she was safe before he turned around only to come face to face with Dan.

"What the hell do you think you are doing Paul? You didn't have a meeting with her; I did, so why are you getting involved?"

Well this was awkward; he could have at least pretended not to be angry for thirty seconds of his life. "Mrs King and I go way back, she has always been one of my favourite clients and when she asked me to see her I didn't think that you would have a problem considering she was here to tell you that they were done and I seemed to be the one with the job of getting all of the old clients back. Mrs King has to run the numbers by her sons but they shouldn't be leaving us, you're welcome."

"How did you do that?" Dan was annoyed that he had taken over his client and ruined what he had planned.

"By saving them money?" Maybe he was missing something with it being his first day back but he thought that was obvious.

"You're an idiot. Rather than saving the business you have cost us more. The reason it was costing them so much was because the supplier they were using was the cheapest in the long run as they didn't have such strict rules."

"And you never thought to speak to one of the other suppliers to get a better deal out of them? Who is the idiot now? I have work to do so go and sulk in your office." He refused to stand there and argue with him so made a hasty exit back to his desk.

* * *

When lunchtime hit and everybody else was heading out of the office to get some food Paul stayed behind as there was a phone call he wanted to make. With the office practically empty he picked up his phone and called the hospital.

"ICU, can I help you?"

"Hi, it's Paul, I was wondering how Stephanie was doing today please?"

The voice was familiar; she just couldn't place where she knew it from and why he was asking about Stephanie. "Paul who? Stephanie who?"

"Levesque and McMahon, seriously I have been sitting with her every day for the past few weeks, you can't have forgotten about me already." He was trying not to be offended but it was proving to be quite difficult.

"Ohhh. Sorry Paul, you sound different on the phone. Stephanie is fine, she's good actually. We got her to sit in a chair for half an hour this morning and we may try for another half an hour this afternoon if she is up to it. I think she is missing having you around to keep her company though as she is quite quiet."

"You mean to tell me that she might be missing my ugly mug? I do feel sorry for her." Laughing softly his mind drifted to the guy that he had met yesterday, maybe he would go against Cassie's advice and meet up with him, he might be able to tell him something about her.

"Well when you put it like that I might get the Doctor to see her, clearly she is crazy." There was something about the way that he was checking up on Stephanie that told her that there was more to what was going on than there seemed so she was going to have to talk to Cassie about it.

Chuckling softly he shook his head, "I can't argue there. Just let her know I will be in tonight okay? She has probably forgotten about that by now."

She didn't want to admit to him that she had already asked about him as she wondered what was taking him so long to arrive; she wanted to focus on the positive if possible. "Of course I will. I will see you tonight Paul, have a good afternoon."

"I will try to, thanks." Ending the call he got up to go and get himself some lunch but stopped when he saw Jessie stood there as he turned around looking stern, "Jessica, what is wrong?"

Ugh, she hated when people called her Jessica because her least favourite teacher had always insisted on calling her that despite her being known as 'Jessie' for longer than she could remember. "What's going on Paul? Who were you on the phone to checking up on some woman?"

"Eavesdropping much?"

Smiling sheepishly she did feel guilty for listening in on his conversation but she couldn't help it when there was nobody else around. "Guilty as charged on that one, sorry."

"It's fine, I have nothing to hide." He really didn't have anything to hide; he just didn't want to be judged for the choices he was making. "The call I just made to check up on 'some woman' was to the ICU to check on a patient that I have been sitting with and hanging out with for the past few weeks as she lost all of her family."

"Fuck, that is awful. How badly injured is she?"

"For the most part her injuries will heal and she is doing a lot better than she was as she is awake now but she has a broken leg, broken ribs, damage to her back and a pretty serious head injury so is unable to remember a lot of things."

She felt so guilty for being nosey now, that woman sounded like she had it so hard. "So she literally has nobody?"

"Literally nobody. If she does have any friends then they haven't come forward to help and to fill in the blanks in her life that we are unable to fill. I have been spending every day with her at the hospital and I will be going by every night after work so that she has somebody to see but also because I really do enjoy hanging out with her."

Jessie didn't know if she was overstepping boundaries or anything but hearing how badly somebody had it made her problems pale in comparison. "If it helps at all if she wants to see another face or would like a female to hang around with I would be happy to visit a couple of times a week. I want to do something positive with my life and that sounds pretty positive to me."

"You don't have to do that."

She didn't know how to react other than to shrug, it wasn't that she felt obligated to do it, she was just offering because she wanted to do something good. "I know that I don't have to do it Paul, I'm not the kind of woman that you can make do anything she doesn't want to do."

Snorting he smirked, "Yeah tell me about it, I had enough trouble getting that file off you earlier."

"Exactly, so you should know that I'm not offering for any reason other than I want to do it so the offer is there if she wants it."

He really couldn't say no to that as it would probably do Stephanie a lot of good to see more people. "I am seeing her tonight so I will talk to her about it."

Just then the phone began to ring causing Jessie to groan, "It is called lunch hour for a fucking reason you idiots. Can nobody read?" Storming off she had to ignore her own lunch for a minute to answer the phone.

* * *

After what felt like a really long afternoon at work Paul was actually looking forward to seeing Stephanie so when he was buzzed in he barely managed a polite smile to the Nurses as he made a beeline for her room. Knocking gently on the door he slowly peeked his head around the open door, "Room for a small one?"

"You came!"

Walking into the room he couldn't help himself from going over and giving her a hug, "Of course. I promised you that I would, I even called to check up on you at lunch and told them to tell you that I would be in tonight."

Did somebody tell her that earlier? She really couldn't remember being told that but she was just happy to see him. "How was your day?"

Not bothering to pull a chair up he sat on the edge of the bed, "Tolerable. My boss gave me a bunch of files that he wants me to work on getting the clients back as he apparently drove them away. I did see my absolute favourite client though, she was meant to have retired but she was bored within a few weeks so went back to work a few days a week. I did kind of get in to trouble for poaching her from my boss but she likes me and not him."

"Paul!" She couldn't help but giggle at him causing mischief at work but it did make her a little sad to know that he had found going back to work so easy, he would soon not want to come and see her at all and she would be all alone.

"It's not my fault, he asked for it. So how was your day? Did you do anything exciting?"

"I should have known when I heard giggling that you were here causing mischief Paul."

Looking towards the door he playfully rolled his eyes at Cassie, "I'm not causing any mischief, I am just telling Stephanie about my day. Shouldn't you be off harassing somebody else?"

Ignoring him she placed the tray on the table and moved it further up the bed forcing him to get off the bed. "Enjoy your dinner Stephanie and then after dinner if you are up to it and Paul sticks around long enough you can go on a little trip in the wheelchair."

When he turned from looking at Cassie to look at Stephanie he nearly died from the killer puppy dog eyes she was giving him, if he had even thought about saying 'no' he would have been changing his mind now. "It's okay; I'm staying for a while. You eat up a minute and I'll go and annoy Cassie and then I will be back."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Pressing a kiss to the top of her head he removed the cloche covering her dinner and placed it on the side, "Eat up."

Not wanting to argue with him she picked up her knife and fork to begin to eat her dinner.


	15. Chapter 15

As requested by **hhhfangirl** and **Olivia** and as a thank you to everybody who has been so kind to me this week, I hope you all enjoy it :)

* * *

Leaving the room he went to find Cassie to ask her about Jessie visiting but she wasn't at the Nurse's station as he expected so he decided to lean against the counter and wait for her to return.

He didn't have to wait long for her to come back as he soon spotted her wheeling a wheelchair down the corridor, "Something you aren't telling me?"

"She has been asking to go for a walk all day, we have deliberately kept her sitting up in a chair to a minimum but we are trying to build that up for her to make her comfortable and stronger. Even if you don't want to take her for a walk I will, being out and about yesterday has certainly made her a little brighter." There was something off about his mood; she couldn't put a finger on it though.

"No it's fine; you know that I don't mind taking her for a walk once she has finished her dinner. We won't go too far and I won't keep her out for too long because of the time but hopefully it will make her feel better." Raking his fingers through his hair he sighed heavily, "I know that you're going to get mad or shoot this idea down or something but one of the girls at work suggested she came in to visit Stephanie. She has no idea who she actually is, she just knows she was seriously ill and has no family. Stupidly she overheard me calling to check on Steph at lunch and thought that I was in a relationship, how dumb is that?"

Well if he saw himself with Stephanie then he would be thinking the same thing too but this woman hadn't even seen them together yet which made her wonder exactly what it was he did or said that made her think that. "Ask Stephanie, I don't mind a stranger coming to visit as long as she is okay with it and as long as she is incredibly careful with what she says around her about Stephanie's life and family."

"Don't worry; I will brief her in advance to steer away from discussing Stephanie's family as she doesn't remember much. I will probably have to tell her how she got hurt but I will swear her to secrecy about giving details of the person that she is visiting so a media circus is not created because she is awake and can't remember anything as the last thing I want is to cause heartache for Steph with people pretending to be friends or such."

He was so protective over her, too protective for her to be comfortable, now was not the time to get in to it with him though. "I appreciate you wanting to keep things quiet for Stephanie; she really doesn't need the drama right now."

One thing about taking Stephanie out for walks was going to be having to get two nurses away from the other patients to help transfer her to a wheelchair, she didn't exactly look huge so he could probably carry her himself. Reaching for the wheelchair he pulled it closer to him, "So you know this whole transferring her to a wheelchair and back thing? Could I just pick her up and move her? It would save two Nurses."

He wasn't exactly trained in the correct way to handle her and she did have a back injury but she also wore a back brace. "Let me give you a crash course in moving her and then as long as you get permission first I can't see a problem in you transferring her in and out of the wheelchair and if we are really busy then in and out of bed too."

"Wow, I thought for sure that you would just smack down everything I have just suggested. Who are you and what have you done with the real Cassie? Normally she isn't anywhere near as giving as this."

"Shut up." Poking her tongue out at him she moved behind the desk to look for something, "Be grateful that I said yes, I could always change my mind you know?"

"I know. I just want her to be happy and comfortable you know and make your lives a little easier. I know this is a long way off but what is going to happen if she is ready to get out of here but still has no memory?" He knew that it was a long way off and that many things that could happen between now and then but he had been wondering about that for a few days.

Cassie knew the answer but she wasn't entirely sure that Paul would want to hear the answer; well more specifically she wasn't sure if she wanted to give him the answer as she didn't want to draw him in any deeper. "I don't know, it would depend on the Doctor and what he thought was best for her."

"And the truth?" It was such a bullshit response when he had asked her a specific question.

This man was impossible; he actually was going to drive her crazy if he didn't let her protect him. "I'm not a psychic Paul; I don't know what will happen."

"But you have a fair idea; you just don't want to tell me what it is, why?"

She wasn't going to win; she wasn't going to get out of this with her sanity intact if she continued to deny what she knew. "Okay fine, the truth is if she doesn't get her memory back to an acceptable level when she is ready to be discharged then she will likely have to go in to a care home because she won't be seen as mentally competent enough to take care of herself."

"Oh." Because of the way that she had been dancing around the question he hadn't been expecting good news but he hadn't expected that news. To him care homes were for older people not somebody as young as her.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you. It sounds awful but it really isn't Paul, it isn't all old people in care homes but hopefully we won't get to that point, hopefully she will regain enough memories and be able to retain enough information that she will be safe living alone."

"I'm going to see if she has finished eating yet." He didn't want to continue with the conversation and continue to be apart from Stephanie, he was here visiting her and that was what he was going to do.

* * *

As he walked back in to her room wheeling the wheelchair he noticed that she had nearly finished eating, "Was I really that long?"

Smiling at him she popped the last forkful of food in to her mouth before she nodded her head.

With Stephanie in the process of finishing the last of her dinner he opened the wheelchair properly before he gathered her plate from the table to take out of the way.

When he left the room the tray was practically ripped from his hands, "Holy moly, it's only an empty plate, no need to get so possessive." The glare he received in return had him raising his hands in defence; apparently not everybody around here was friendly.

Paul didn't move until the person who had snatched the tray was out of sight and then he only flagged down a passing Nurse and asked her to let Cassie know that they were ready when she was before he went back in to the room to be with Stephanie.

"Can we go out please?"

The way that she looked so hopeful didn't help him to forget that they had mentioned not fifteen minutes ago that he would take her for a walk after dinner. "As soon as Cassie comes back then I can transfer you to the wheelchair and we can go for a walk okay? We won't go far though because it is quite late really."

Sighing heavily she nodded slightly, "I just want to get out of here, see other faces and enjoy a different four walls."

Before he could broach the subject of Jessie coming to visit Cassie breezed in to the room, "So let's show you how to transfer Stephanie and then you won't have to wait for me."

* * *

A couple of minutes and a few barks later because he was doing it wrong he finally had it right and was able to transfer her comfortably to the wheelchair.

Once Stephanie was in the wheelchair but before she allowed them to move Cassie bent down so that she could talk to her, "Are you comfortable? Was that okay?"

She didn't want to admit that she had really enjoyed being in his arms, there was something about the way that he held her that she couldn't get enough of and it scared her as she pretty much knew nothing.

"Stephanie?"

Blushing heavily she bit down on her lip, she had been so distracted with her thoughts that she hadn't realised that she hadn't actually answered her. "It's okay, he was soft and gentle with me."

"Okay then." Turning to Paul she briefly looked at Stephanie and frowned a little, "Just move her carefully like that and make sure not to twist her body and to fully support her and you'll be okay."

"Thanks Cassie, I will do." He took hold of the handles of the wheelchair and carefully manoeuvred it around, "Come on you, let's get you out of here before they change their minds."

* * *

After pushing her out of ICU he turned right to just go for a walk and to see what they could find. Eventually they came across a window looking out down on some gardens so he turned the wheelchair so that she could look out over it and put the brakes on. Kneeling down beside the wheelchair he rested his arm on the arm rest occasionally looking from the garden to Stephanie.

They had been looking out over the garden for a while when he decided that now was a good time to broach the subject of Jessie visiting too. "Steph, can I ask you a question?"

"You may." It was true he could, if it involved her remembering something though he wasn't like to get himself an answer.

"You know how the only face you are seeing is my ugly mug?"

Slowly nodding her head she already didn't like where this was going, he was going to tell her he didn't want to be coming by so often, she just knew it.

"I was talking to one of the girls at work today and she wondered how you would feel about her visiting you also?"

"Is she your girlfriend?" He obviously had to have a woman in his life, he was too handsome to be single so maybe she was jealous that he was spending so much time with her and he was framing it as a woman from work when really she wasn't.

"No, definitely not." He wasn't sure whether to be terrified at the thought or amused that she would think that of him. "I really don't think that Jessie, that's her name, that her girlfriend would be pleased if she was seeing me too."

If she had a job and a girlfriend what would she want to be hanging around the hospital with her for? Was this his way of getting out of coming to see her by passing her off to somebody else?

"Everything okay?" She was awfully quiet so now he felt like he had done the wrong thing in even bringing it up. "She doesn't have to come if you don't want her to, she just thought that you might be sick of the sight of me and would appreciate a new face."

"But I don't want you to stop coming to see me."

So that was why she was quiet, she thought that if she agreed to Jessie coming then he wouldn't be coming by any more. "I won't not be coming when Jessie comes, unless you don't want me to, it will just be another person to talk to. I think that you would like Jessie, I know that I like her because she hates my boss as much as I do."

"Would she tell me stories about you?" Perking up a little she liked the idea of another face and getting to know things about Paul.

He didn't like the sound of that question at all, she was going to be fishing and he didn't want Stephanie to know about his wife, not yet. "I think she might, sometimes she says she is a female me so she must have some stories. You don't have to agree if you don't want to, she won't be offended."

"It would be nice but . . . . can you tell her why I am in hospital please? I can't remember anything."

Those words broke his heart, he knew that she wasn't using his name much, if at all, so he had wondered if she had forgotten it but knowing that she couldn't remember why she was in hospital was hard. "Sure, you know that I would do whatever makes you happy. I'll text her now and she might tell me when she'll come and visit you." Shifting his position he knelt on the floor properly before he began searching through his pockets looking for his phone until he finally located it.

 _Hey Jess, Stephanie said that it would be nice if you visited, if you are still up for it, no problem if you're not. Paul_

Once he had sent the text he put his phone back in his pocket and went back to enjoying the time with Stephanie.

* * *

After a further five or so minutes watching out over the garden he pushed him back to his feet, "I should get you back before Cassie gets mad and gets scary."

"She's not scary."

"You haven't seen her mad." He pouted at her as flipped the brakes off the wheelchair before he took hold of the handles and turned the chair around to push her back to ICU.

Just as he was about to ask for them to be buzzed back in his phone beeped in his pocket, "I should just check this a minute, if it is my sister I may not be held responsible for what I do to my phone."

"Don't you like her?"

For the most part he did like his sister, just not when she was lecturing him and that was a lot lately. "I do, it's just that her special skill in life is to be obnoxiously overbearing and she is getting on my nerves at the minute." When he pulled his phone out of his pocket he was relieved to see that it was actually a text from Jessie so he quickly opened it.

 _I'm totally up for it. I'll come with you after work tomorrow? Jess_

After he had read the text he put his phone back in to his pocket and without saying another word he requested that they were buzzed back in to ICU.

Manoeuvring the wheelchair through the doors was difficult but once he managed it he wheeled her straight back in to her room to get her back in to bed because they had been a little longer than he had meant to be and he didn't want her to be in pain.

Once he had the brakes on the wheelchair beside the bed so that it couldn't move at all he pulled back the blanket on her bed a little further before he turned to her and gently slid his arm beneath her legs before placing his other hand in the same position that Cassie had shown him, silently counting to three in his head he then carefully and as gently as possible picked her up and placed her back on to the bed. With little help from Stephanie he managed to get her settled back in to bed, "Comfortable?"

It did feel good to be back in bed and relaxing again but she wouldn't swap her little outing for anything as she had enjoyed it. "Yes thank you. Are you leaving now?"

He couldn't stay late as he hadn't eaten dinner yet but he could definitely stay a little while longer, "Not unless you are kicking me out."

"I'm not, I like having you here when you want to be here."

Perching himself on the edge of the bed he gently patted her leg, "You know that I love being here and being around you."

"Why?" She didn't understand why, she couldn't offer him anything so what was he getting out of visiting her? Did he really feel that sorry for her?

"Because I think you're a really incredible person and you're so strong to be dealing with what you're dealing with and to still be able to smile and be happy like you are."

She didn't like how he was talking to her; she didn't want to be anybody's pity project. "I don't want your pity. I think you should leave."

"But I'm not pitying you, it is the truth. You don't really want me to leave do you?"

"Yes. Please go." She didn't really want him to leave but she didn't want him to just be here because he felt sorry for her.

Paul was torn between staying which was apparently against her wishes and leaving like she asked him to do. He didn't believe for a minute that she actually wanted him to leave but she had said it and he couldn't exactly say outright that he didn't believe her. "I guess I'll go home. I'll be back tomorrow with Jess, unless you have changed your mind?"

Shrugging her shoulders she didn't know if she had changed her mind, she didn't know anything now.

This was going to be really awkward if come tomorrow she was still mad at him so he could only hope that a good night's sleep would make things better. "Night Steph."

* * *

As he left the room he heard Cassie calling his name and groaned, he really didn't want the third degree about the fact that he was leaving. "Yes Cassie."

"Is Steph okay after your trip and you moving her to and from bed to wheelchair?"

Slowly turning around he moved away from her doorway, "I think so. I don't know she is tired or in pain but she has thrown me out because she didn't want me pitying her. I wasn't but that is how she feels and she told me to leave so whatever, I am doing as she asked and leaving."

He looked broken and she really felt sorry for him. "I wondered how long it would take for this to happen, no offense. This isn't about you or about how you look at her or treat her; this is about how she is feeling about herself. Because of her situation where she can't do anything for herself and can't remember things then she is getting frustrated and she is lashing out and unfortunately you are just an easy target for her. Are you going to come back?"

"Sure, I'll be back tomorrow with Jessie from work, I wasn't going to let her keep me away just because she is in a bad mood today." It was the truth, he really wasn't going to let her mood today keep him away because he knew that she didn't really mean it, well he had hoped anyway. "Have a good evening and if she asks can you tell all of the Nurses to tell her I'll be back tomorrow please, I don't want her to be in a funk because she thought she drove me away, that won't help you guys."

"I will do. Goodnight Paul, sleep well and try not to dwell on what she said." It would be easier said than done but she hoped that he would listen to her.

"Yeah sure, I'll try. Night." As he walked out of ICU he tried to ignore how she had made him feel and focus on getting home and enjoying his evening.

* * *

Once she had watched him walk away she entered the room to check on her, "So how are you feeling?"

"Okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

This was going to take a lot of the knowledge she had gathered through her years of nursing to help her get through this conversation. Taking a seat on the end of the bed she frowned at the young woman, "I never said that you wouldn't be, I was just making sure that allowing Paul to lift you from bed to the wheelchair and back again wasn't a bad idea."

"I'm fine. I sent him away because I am sick of being pitied and I'll send you away too if you start."

Cassie had to stifle a laugh as she wouldn't be able to get away from her that easily. "I wondered why he looked so down when he left. You do realise he doesn't pity you right? He may ask you a thousand times if you're okay but that is only because he doesn't want you to be in pain and he doesn't want to hurt you when he moves you or takes you out."

"He was down?" She almost felt guilty for making him down even if she was mad at him.

"Of course he is. All he wants is for you to be happy and comfortable and he feels like he has let you down by making you feel like he is doing it because he feels sorry for you." All Cassie could do was hope that this got through to her and she realised that Paul's heart was actually in a good place.

"But he does feel sorry for me. I don't want to talk about him though."

Knowing when to take a hint she stood back up, "I should go and check on some of the other patients, call if you need us."

Stephanie didn't say anything, she just allowed her to walk out of the room as she sulked.

* * *

It had been about ten minutes since she had left the room when Cassie spotted the Doctor on duty, "Doctor Nash may I have a word?"

"Of course. What can I help you with?"

"It is about Stephanie. She is being particularly snappy and tonight she told Paul to leave because she didn't want his pity. I told him that it was because her situation is finally hitting her and she is resenting herself but I don't know if you would like to just do some Doctory things to probe a little deeper to make sure that everything is okay and she isn't spiralling into a depression or anything."

'Do some Doctory things' had to be the best description she had ever received for when she was doing her job but as amused as that made her it concerned her to hear how Stephanie was behaving. "I will go and talk to her in an hour or so, just so she has enough time to cool down from being mad at him so that she isn't mad at me."

"Smart choice. I already tried talking to her but it went badly. Thank you for talking to her for me."

"It's my pleasure, it is my job."

Their conversation was interrupted by the doors bursting open and a new patient being rushed in. "Don't you people know to call first?"

"It's an emergency, he crashed in the middle of transfer and we need help."

As Cassie and Dr Nash raced the patient in to a newly vacated room to save his life Stephanie lay in her bed with a tear rolling down her cheek, she felt so alone and so miserable, she wished that she had died with her family.


	16. Chapter 16

When Paul left the hospital he turned his phone off because he didn't want to be bothered by his sister any time soon if he could help it and he knew that she was bound to try calling him tonight after he had hung up on her earlier.

After dinner he went straight to bed, his brain was so messed up and he was so tired from all of the visiting and his first day back at work that he needed the early night.

* * *

Just before lunch on Tuesday he was leaning on the reception desk and smiling sweetly at Jess.

Eyeing him suspiciously as she ended her call she didn't trust him, he looked to be playing far too innocent for her not to be suspicious. "What do you want?"

"I wondered if you would like to have lunch with me? If you have to stay here I can get something and bring it back."

"Why do you want to have lunch with me? Is this your way of gently letting me down about tonight?"

"Pfft, you wish. So what is it to be?"

Jessie wasn't looking forward to another lunch alone as she had to cover the phones according to Dan so company would be nice. "I have to stay here so if you could please bring me back something that would be great Paul."

He couldn't help but smile as she looked so grateful, "Sure. Do you have any requests for what you would like?"

Their conversation was interrupted by the phone ringing so she just shook her head as she answered the call.

* * *

Due to the emergency the Doctor had been unable to check on Stephanie in the time frame that she had hoped but when she did check on her she was asleep but she could have sworn that it looked like she had been crying.

There were a lot of concerns about Stephanie when she walked in the morning as she had barely touched her breakfast, rather than taking a Nurse in to the room with her she decided to go and talk to her alone.

"Good morning."

Making a face Stephanie didn't know what was good about it; she still couldn't do anything for herself.

The Doctor had been studying her face to get the answers that she wasn't telling people and her facial expression when she asked the question told her what she wanted to know. "I guess it isn't a good morning for you then. Are you in pain? Uncomfortable? Anything I can relieve?"

"Can you kill me? That will make me better."

"Why would you want me to do that? Things are getting better aren't they?" The Doctor took a seat on the bed wanting to get a little closer to her level so it was less Doctor talking down to patient and more two people on the same level.

"How? I can't remember anything; I can't do anything for myself. What is good about this? I would be better off dead."

Her next words had to be chosen very carefully because she was already incredibly depressed. "It may look bad for you right now but you have come so far. You have gone from being unconscious with a neck brace on to conscious, no neck brace; you're even beginning to sit up. As your body heals from the trauma you will be able to do even more but you just have to be patient."

She didn't want to be patient; she just wanted to be better and to live her life. "I still think I would be better dead."

There appeared to be nothing that she could say that would make her feel better so they were just going to have to keep a close eye on her and make sure that she had no access to anything that she could use to harm herself.

* * *

Not entirely sure what she would eat Paul returned to the office with two salad rolls and two bottles of water, placing them the desk he went off in search of a chair that he could borrow.

Returning with a chair he got himself comfortable beside the desk as she finished her phone call, "So are you still up for tonight?"

"For the seven hundred and fiftieth time I am. Why are you being so obsessive about this?" It was actually beginning to annoy Jess the amount of times that he was asking her if she was still up for it because she wasn't somebody who made a promise and then changed her mind.

Suddenly his sandwich was very interesting to him. He focussed his attention on unwrapped his sandwich and examining it carefully.

"Seriously Paul? What the hell is going on?"

"Up until last night she has always been in a good mood despite it all but last night it was like a switch was flicked and she kicked me out. She doesn't want my pity and she felt like she was being pitied by me so she kicked me out. The Nurse said this was to be expected but she had never been like this before and the last thing I want is for her to be like it with you."

His weird behaviour certainly made some sense now. "So do you not want me to come? Do the Doctors/Nurses not want me to come?"

"I don't know. I still want you to come; I just haven't asked the Doctors and Nurses if it is still a good idea for you to come. I should call to check on her anyway so I will ask." There was something about calling to check on Stephanie around Jessie that made him uncomfortable so Paul got up and moved away from the desk as he got his phone out to make the call.

After a minute of the phone ringing out it was finally picked up, "Hi, it's Paul Levesque and I am calling to check on Stephanie McMahon." He had learned his lesson from yesterday and had no plans to ever make that mistake of not giving all of the details again.

"Paul! It is actually Doctor Nash, I was at the desk and nobody else was around so I answered the phone for a change. Stephanie is . . ." Trailing off she wasn't sure what to say to him, she didn't want to tell him that Stephanie had said that she would be better off dead.

"Don't worry Doctor Nash; your secret is safe with me that you are secretly trying to take the Nurses' job off them. So how is Stephanie really? I know that she wasn't really in the best place last night. Also, is it still okay if I bring my friend in to see her?"

Maybe a new face would help bring her out of her funk, she wasn't overly confident but she was hopeful that it would help. "I will be honest Paul, she isn't exactly in the best mood but hopefully your friend will help with that."

"Oh, I see. Is there anything that I can bring in to cheer her up?"

"I don't think so. You never know though, she may just be happy to see you and that will be enough to cheer her up."

He doubted that would be the case after last night but he would hold on to a small glimmer of hope that she wouldn't kick him out as soon as he arrived. "Okay thanks. I'll see you later then. Thanks and sorry for bothering you."

"It's okay Paul, I'll see you later."

Jessie watched him on the phone as she began to eat her sandwich noticing how his shoulders sagged which probably meant that they didn't want her to go in tonight but that was okay, she just wanted to do a good deed. When he removed the phone from his ear she continued to eat in silence not wanting to be the first one to speak.

"Would you like the good news or the bad news?"

Placing her sandwich down she wasn't sure that she wanted either, those questions normally ended up with two pieces of bad news just one with a little more sugar on it than the other. "I don't think it really matters; I'll hear them both in the end anyway."

"The good news is that the Doctor still agrees that it is okay for you to come and visit Stephanie." Taking a seat he opened his bottle of water and took a quick drink before he continued. "The bad news is that she seems to be in a funk, quite moody and not really wanting company it seems. The Doctor isn't sure how she will react because of her mood but hopefully between the two of us we can cheer her up, if you still want to come after hearing this."

"Of course, a moody woman is not going to stop me because she will be easy to deal with compared to Dan. Is there anything I should know? Or maybe there might be something I shouldn't talk about?"

This was the perfect opportunity for him to warn her about mentioning her family, maybe his wife also. "Stephanie wanted me to tell you what her injuries were before you go as a part of her injuries mean that she can't remember things. She has a broken leg, some broken ribs, some damage to her back and she also had some serious head trauma and her memory is affected."

"What kind of memory? I don't exactly know the technical, or well medical I guess, terms for it but do you mean retaining information that she has been given or remembering things that have happened in the past?" No wonder the poor woman was in a funk though; she would be in one too if she was dealing with all of that.

"Both kinds of memory. She cannot remember anything at all from her past and she can't retain information that you give her. On occasion she seems to remember my name but that isn't all of the time." So far so good, Jessie seemed to be handling the information well but she hadn't gotten to the part about Stephanie's family yet.

"If she can't remember anything does that mean that she will likely not remember that I have visited her and who I am? Why does it not sound like her family are around? I feel like I should know this but I am having a major brain fart moment."

"All of her family have died; none of her friends have stepped forward to say that they know her so she is alone. We have told her, well the Doctor did, that her family have died but we aren't sure if she actually remembers it so if you could avoid that subject then I would appreciate it because I don't want to upset her, especially in the mood she was in last night and the mood she is still in today."

That was no talking about her family then so she couldn't probe the other woman for information on her life to see if she could remember even something small and simple.

Paul wanted to tell her to not mention his wife but it felt like he was giving her a list of things that she couldn't do and he felt guilty because essentially she was doing him a favour.

Jessie wasn't stupid and liked to think that she was quite perceptive so she did pick up on the strange vibe surrounding them however she couldn't put a finger on what it was. Whilst she tried to figure out what was going on and what was on his mind she wanted to satisfy what was on her mind. "How does Stephanie feel about your situation? Is it hard for her to understand that you were married and you recently lost your wife?"

"About that, she kind of doesn't know."

"What? How? I mean you wear a wedding ring, how has she not noticed?" It made sense why he hadn't told her of his own free will but it didn't make sense why she hadn't asked about it.

Those were questions he asked himself every single day, especially after she was playing with his wedding ring the one day. "Good questions, I don't know the answers though. One day she did notice the ring and was playing with it but she didn't really say anything so I didn't say anything. I kind of kept the reasons why I hadn't been in work vague, she thinks that I was the one in hospital and I haven't really corrected that thinking, how could I? She has lost her entire family; she can't remember anything at all so the last thing I want to keep going over is her family or my own loss. I have dealt with my wife's death but it is still not something that I want to keep going over, if you know what I mean."

She knew exactly what he meant and it made a lot of sense to her. "Okay so that is no talk of her family or your wife, any other subjects that are off limit?"

"No, I think that is enough don't you?"

"Maybe, it's okay though, none of that is for any reason other than to protect one of you so even with those off limit I am looking forward to tonight."

He had to force a smile at that comment as she was the only one; he was expecting the worst but was definitely hoping for the best.

* * *

Throughout the afternoon whenever somebody would enter her room Stephanie hoped that it was Paul, she missed him and wanted him to come soon.

The amount of times that Cassie walked in to the room and Stephanie's face fell was beginning to give her a serious complex. Eventually she had enough of the looks and as she flicked through the file to check on her painkillers she decided to tackle the subject head on, "I know that I am not the prettiest person alive but do you have to look so disappointed when I enter the room?"

"It isn't you. I thought he would be here by now."

"He who?" Putting the file back down she moved to fill the glass with water for Stephanie and placed it on the tray in front of her.

"You know, he comes all the time."

"Paul?"

"Yes, him. Where is he?" She knew that she had told him to go away, or something, last night but she wanted to forget that she would prefer to be dead and he did that for her.

Glancing at her watch she tried to guesstimate how long it would take for him to arrive at the hospital. "Paul should be here in an hour or so."

"Promise?"

"I can't promise that, I don't know what the traffic will be like but I don't think he will be much more than an hour. Why are you so eager to see him?"

Just shrugging her shoulders was painful but as she winced at the pain she tried to ignore it, "I want to see if he will come."

It hurt her heart to watch her patient so despondent; she couldn't have looked more sad and desperate if she tried. "I am sure that he will be here, be patient. I am going to go and fill your jug with some fresh water; can I get you anything else?"

"No thanks." It didn't seem like she could make him appear so she was going to have to wait.

* * *

Jessie didn't drive so Paul promised to drive her to the hospital and then drop her home as it would be late and he didn't want her to catch the underground from the hospital home as there would be a change of train.

They were on their way to the hospital and she was trying to talk to him but kept getting no response from him. "Are you going to answer me or do I get the silent treatment forever?"

"I'm sorry, my mind was elsewhere. What did you say? I will listen this time I swear."

"It wasn't anything important. Do you want to talk about it Paul?"

There was nothing to really talk about, he was just preoccupied by his fear that Stephanie wouldn't want to see him and would kick him straight back out again. "It's okay, I will be okay but thanks."

The two of them fell in to a comfortable silence for the rest of the journey.

* * *

Buzzing him in to ICU Cassie was a little surprised to see Paul, she had had her doubts that he would come when it came down to it after everything so it was a pleasant surprise to see him. "Good evening."

"Evening. Cassie this is my work colleague Jessie and Jess this is Cassie, she is one of the Nurses who looks after Stephanie and she also looked after Lily."

"It's nice to meet you. Is it okay for me to visit? I understand that she hasn't been feeling herself."

"Of course it is." Immediately she got a warm feeling from the other woman and she liked it, it was exactly the kind of influence that Stephanie needed right now. "Why don't you two go in and say hello to Stephanie, I am sure that she would be more than happy to see you Paul."

Not believing a word that Cassie was saying he gave her a disbelieving look, "Sure and on your head be it if she is rude and kicks me out. Come on Jessie; let's see how quickly I get kicked out today." Making his way to the room for the first time in the entire time that he had been visiting her he was anxious.

"It will be okay Paul, she will be happy to see you."

Forcing a smile he wanted to believe her but he didn't. With a gentle knock on the door he waited to be invited in.

* * *

Time was going by slowly as she waited for him to arrive so when there was a knock at the door she looked over eagerly, "Yes?" The second that he stuck his head around the door she smiled and reached for him, "You came."

Surprised by the smile on her face and the way she was reaching towards him he wasn't sure if it was for him or for Jessie, "Who?"

"You . . . Pa . . . ul?"

The way that she said his name so hesitantly as she obviously had to think hard about it but she had called him by his name again and she seemed so happy to see him made him feel a little relieved. Closing the distance between them he wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hug and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, "I didn't think that you were going to want to see me."

"Always. I was just sad and wanted to die."

Unsure of how to deal with it he changed the subject briefly, "Do you remember I mentioned my friend Jessie coming? She has come with me today." He motioned Jessie to come further in to the room and he stepped back for her.

"Hi, it's really nice to meet you."

It was a bit of a forced smile as she wanted Paul to be closer to her again but she politely returned the hug that the other woman offered, "You too. Has Paul told you everything?"

Stepping back she looked for a chair to sit down in, "He did so don't worry, I won't ask you any stupid questions about your injuries or how you got them. Where can I get a second chair from please Paul?"

"It's okay; he can sit on my bed."

A little taken back by the quickness of the response Jessie wondered what was going on between the two of them she didn't say anything, instead she just went to move the chair from the wall closer to the bed so that she could talk to her.

* * *

It would be hard to ignore how quickly Stephanie had offered that he sat on the bed, it was almost like it was something that she wanted. Looking at her briefly he was trying to find the best part of the bed to sit on so that he didn't hurt her when he noticed her patting the bed beside him so to keep everything peaceful and happy he moved around the bed to sit beside her, he would do anything she wanted tonight as long as she was happy.


	17. Chapter 17

With dinner in hand Cassie walked in to the room and placed the food on the tray before she moved it closer to Stephanie, "Your visitors may stay whilst you eat just as long as you do actually eat."

"Can we take her for a walk after dinner?"

"Sure, if that is what Stephanie would like. I can get the wheelchair if you want to go out after dinner Stephanie?" Unusually she had been quite quiet and reserved about going out so she wasn't certain about exactly what her response was going to be.

* * *

She felt ugly and she just wanted to be close to Paul, she didn't want to move and to be stared at or for people to think she was the poor relative and they were the couple.

"What if we went for ice cream? They have to sell some in the stores right?" Jessie could see that the other woman was sad and she just wanted to cheer her up a little.

"Okay."

Cassie was relieved to hear that word coming from her mouth, although she was so desperate for Paul to visit and she was happy to be with him she could see the sadness in her eyes. "I will go and get the wheelchair if one of you is willing to help me."

"I will do it." Jumping at the chance to put some space between him and Stephanie he needed to find out if Cassie knew how dark her thoughts had gotten. "You start eating and I will be back now."

Silently watching her friend kiss the woman on the top of the head before he left she wasn't sure if she should actually mention what was said just a few minutes ago so she silently watched her begin to eat her dinner. Curiosity quickly got the better of her, "What does that food taste like? You always hear stories about hospital food being disgusting."

Food was food, what was she meant to say? "It's okay I guess, it isn't exactly the tastiest but it isn't inedible." After a few more mouthfuls of food Stephanie broke the silence between them, "Does anybody believe me that I would prefer to be dead? I am such a burden to Pa . . . ul, you, the Nurses and Doctors. Nobody else visits so nobody will actually miss me."

There was no way that she could sit there and let her talk herself down like that, she didn't know the woman but clearly the lack of memories was getting to her badly. Painfully aware of all of the other woman's injuries Jessie tentatively sat down on the edge of the bed ready to move if she winced but when she didn't she began to speak, "Trust me you are not a burden to myself or to Paul and as for the Nurses and Doctors it is their job to take care of people and nurse them back to health so it is something they enjoy. Look at how far you have come and you still have so far to go, I know it isn't a fast process but you'll get there. I wish that there was something that I could do to cheer you up."

Using her fork she pushed her dinner around the plate and sighed sadly, she had to say that but it didn't make anything that she said true.

"I know that you don't believe me but it is true." Maybe she needed to take her mind off wanting to die so she changed the subject, "My other half has a cold right now, it isn't even a bad cold but you would think that it was the worst flu ever, she is always moaning about how sick she is and laying it on really thick trying to make me feel sorry for her so that I will wait on her but it doesn't work."

She couldn't help but laugh softly at her story; it was something she could see Paul doing. "She?"

"Yeah she, her name is Arabella but she prefers to go by Bella because she isn't a big fan of her full name, she says it makes her feel one hundred years old. I guess Paul never told you that I was gay? Not that it matters to me but I know some people have an issue with my sexuality."

"I don't, it doesn't bother me." Continuing to push her dinner around her plate she couldn't stomach eating, she just didn't want it.

"I'm guessing they won't let us have ice cream unless you eat at least half of your dinner so maybe try that for me please? I don't want them to think that I'm a bad influence on you."

Stephanie didn't want her to get in trouble so she forced some of her dinner down.

* * *

Cassie and Paul walked to collect a wheelchair in complete silence which was unusual for them as normally he was questioning her about something so now she was concerned about him. "Is everything okay?"

"Sure."

"Liar. It's okay to tell me what is on your mind you know."

That was harsh to call him a liar, even if it was true. "I don't know if she has mentioned to you or a Doctor or anything but she said when I arrived that she wanted to die. She is definitely not herself but I don't know if she will go as far as actually trying anything, she just seems miserable still."

Sadly she knew all about those wishes to die and she couldn't help but sigh at the fact that Paul hadn't magically fixed it. "We know, don't worry we know. I think we're probably going to get a Psychologist or something to come and talk to her because it is a lot for her to handle and take on board so it is understandable that she would be out of sorts. My guess would be that everything is settling in to her brain now so as a result she feels like she is on a spin cycle of emotions and she doesn't know how to deal with them as she can't remember anything."

"I'm sorry that I can't seem able to fix things. Should I actually take her out of here tonight if she is talking about wanting to die?"

Pushing the wheelchair towards him she didn't want to go that far as she knew that she would be mad. "I am hoping that getting out of here for a little bit will be good for her. I know that you will watch her carefully but it is unlikely that there is anything that she can do that will get her to the end result she has spoken about. Just try to keep her mind off of her own thoughts and more focussed on having a good time."

"I'll try. I'd better get this back to the girls because I am pretty sure that Jessie will be causing mischief at this point." He was only a few steps away when he remembered what had been said before he left the room, "Oh by the way, when we take Stephanie for a walk is she allowed ice cream? Jessie thinks it cures all problems so suggested we go for ice cream."

"Sure, just keep it to one scoop and no added extras please."

"Can it be any flavour she wants?" One scoop and no added extras sounded fair so hopefully they could make her happy.

"Any flavour in the world, well that they sell, is available to her. I hope that this cheers her up a little."

"You and me both. Thanks though Cassie, I will let you know when we leave." Wheeling the chair back to the he was a little surprised and disappointed to see that she had only eaten some of her dinner. "Don't you like your dinner?"

"Not really." Unable to take her eyes off the wheelchair she wondered if he was going to take it back now.

If she didn't like her dinner he wouldn't force her to eat it, "Well that sucks. This definitely calls for ice cream and I have even okayed it with the Nurse so come on, let's get you out of here."

The first thing that he did was make sure that the wheelchair was out straight whilst Jessie moved the chair and Stephanie's tray down to the end of the bed allowing Paul to push the wheelchair closer and then lift her from the bed in to the wheelchair, "Comfortable?"

Chewing on her lip she nodded her head slowly, she didn't know why they were even bothering with her because she was miserable company.

"So um, exactly how good of a driver are you Paul? I just need to know whether I need to walk ten steps behind and deny knowing you?"

"Well that's mean." He pouted as he made sure that Stephanie was safely in the wheelchair, "I would like you to know that up until this point I have not run over one foot although that may change now and I may deliberately run over yours."

Even the joking wasn't cheering Stephanie up so he just flipped the brakes off as he stood up so that he could turn the wheelchair around and they could go.

* * *

When they reached the concourse and they stopped beside a couple of empty seats she sighed looking longingly at the seats, she wanted to be normal and to sit in one of those seats.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just wishing that I could be well enough to be walking around and sitting in one of those normal seats like I do in my room."

It wouldn't do any harm to transfer her to sit in one; they wouldn't be down here for hours. "If you promise not to tell Cassie that I did this I will move you to sit in the end one. Cassie is scary and I don't trust her not to get mad if I do something without asking first. You have a back brace and I will be really careful so if you want to I will move you."

Her face lit up at the prospect of being a 'normal' person for a little bit, "Really?! You will do that for me?"

"Of course I will beautiful." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as he manoeuvred the wheelchair in to position beside the chairs to make the transition extra easy.

If she didn't know better then Jessie would say that as she watched Paul with Stephanie then he was developing feelings for her, he was too caring for it to simply be friendship. "So who would like what ice cream?"

"I will take chocolate please. Stephanie can't have a cone and extras so maybe see if there is like a cup that she can have it in?"

"Sure. What flavour would you like please Steph? I don't think they do many flavours but there is still a small selection."

"I . . . don't know." She didn't even know her favourite flavour of ice cream, how was she meant to choose?

If she didn't know then Jess had the perfect idea. "I have an idea; I'll be back in a moment with ice cream." Ignoring the ten dollars Paul attempted to pass to her she was a woman on a mission.

* * *

With Jessie getting ice cream he transferred Stephanie from her wheelchair to the chair, "The second that you become uncomfortable you need to tell me okay? I don't want you being really uncomfortable or potentially hurting yourself."

"Yes Sir, whatever you say Sir."

Rolling his eyes at the cheeky smile on her face he shook his head and sat down beside Stephanie placing his arm on the chairs behind her, "Are you comfortable?"

Moving a little as best she could she leaned against him slightly, "Yes thank you." It was so nice for her being out of her room that she just enjoyed watching people coming and going, nothing needed to be said between herself and Paul as she relaxed against him.

After a few minutes Jess returned to the pair surprised to see the way they were cuddled up together, "Should you have moved her?"

"Probably not but what Cassie doesn't know won't hurt her today. I don't normally so she can't be too mad at me. So what did you get us?"

With difficulty she managed to give Paul his ice cream cone before she handed Stephanie a cup, "So they were really cool and understanding when I said that you couldn't have a cone but they were apologetic that they didn't have something more appropriate to put the ice cream in. To make up for being so ill prepared they have given you a slightly bigger than sample size but smaller than regular scoop of all of their flavours. You have yourself strawberry, vanilla and chocolate so hopefully you like one of them."

Carefully holding the cup in her lap she tentatively used the plastic spoon that they had given her breaking off a little piece of the pink ice cream and raising the spoon to her mouth to taste it.

Paul was trying not to stare at Stephanie as she tasted the ice cream but he was genuinely curious about how she felt as it was almost like she was trying it for the first time.

If Stephanie was going to be out of the wheelchair then Jess decided to sit in it just in case somebody decided to borrow it when they weren't looking as they thought that it was not being used. "How's the ice cream?"

"Ice cream is ice cream, yours?"

"It makes me feel better after a day of dealing with Dan. What do you think Steph?"

After tasting all three she finally had a decision, "I prefer the brown one."

"That's my kind of girl. Every girl should prefer chocolate ice cream. When you're doing better I'll bring in some different flavours for you to try just so that you can really find a favourite but don't tell that scary looking Nurse."

"If you mean Cassie then I may tell her just to get you in trouble."

Stephanie slapped his leg gently giggling as she continued to kind of lean against him, "Don't be mean." Exhaustion was suddenly hitting her like a ton of bricks and she was struggling to stay awake.

"I'm not being mean, just really really honest."

As Stephanie rested her head back against him Jessie couldn't resist taking her phone out and taking a quick photo of the two of them, they looked so cute together whether they were in a relationship or not.

"What are you doing Jessie?" He saw her playing with her phone but he wasn't sure what she was actually doing.

Rather than answering the question she changed the subject, "Is she okay? She looks exhausted."

He had noticed she was leaning against him harder but as he looked down at her to see her resting her head against him and struggling to keep his eyes open he shook his head, "Let's get her back to her room."

Jessie move from sitting in the wheelchair and removed the now empty cup from Stephanie's hand as Paul carefully sat her up before he stood up himself and transferred her back to the wheelchair, "Let's get you back to bed before you fall asleep on me and Cassie kills me."

"Ha! I told you she was scary looking, even you are scared of her so you can't tell me off now."

"Do you have to be such a child?" Rolling his eyes he shook his head, he wasn't sure whether Stephanie would tell on them so the last thing he needed was it getting back to Cassie that they were calling her scary as he wasn't sure how she would take it.

* * *

The rest of the walk back to ICU was quiet as Stephanie was struggling to stay awake so they tried not to make too much noise in the hope of when they got her back in to bed then she would fall straight to sleep.

Once they were buzzed back in to the ICU Jessie made her way to the room in front of Paul so that she could pull the blankets back all of the way to allow him to easily transfer Stephanie back to bed.

Pushing the wheelchair in to the room he threw a grateful smile in Jessie's direction parking it beside the bed mouthing 'thank you' to her as she had the brakes on within seconds of him stopping moving, now all he had to do was transfer Stephanie back to her bed without incident. He took a moment to make sure he had her securely as she was so tired before he lifted her and placed her on to the bed covering her with the blanket, "Sleep well." A gentle kiss was pressed to her cheek before he stepped away, "I'll just return this wheelchair and we'll head out."

"It's okay. I'll sit here with her a minute in case she becomes more with it and wonders what is going on." Taking a seat she didn't expect her to wake up but she would feel guilty if they just ran out on her and she did wake up again.

* * *

He was on his way back from stashing the wheelchair where it seemed to be kept when he was stopped by the Doctor, "Whatever it is I didn't do it, we have only just got back."

"Well in that case whatever it is I didn't do either because I didn't know anything had happened as I've just been on a break. On a serious note though, I wanted to catch you to see how Stephanie was, she has been really down so I wondered if your visit had cheered her up at all?"

"I don't know. She was quite quiet and reserved and by the time we had all eaten our ice cream she was falling asleep so I brought her straight back and have just put her back to bed. Jessie is sitting with her a minute whilst I put the wheelchair away and then I'm going to head . . ." Before he finished speaking they heard a scream and everybody in the vicinity ran for Stephanie's room.

* * *

After being returned to her bed Stephanie quickly drifted off to sleep as she was exhausted. Almost as soon as she fell asleep she began to dream of the accident. Transported back to being on the plane everything was dark but occasionally the lights would flash on and off, all of a sudden a dark figure appeared in the doorway but the light wasn't flashing on any more, all of a sudden there was a bright flash of flight and she saw the face before the plane started falling and he was dragged out of her vision and she screamed, her eyes flying open.

Stephanie's scream nearly made Jessie fall off her chair but she quickly dived across the room to the bed, "What's wrong? Are you okay? What happened?"

"Where is he?" She needed to see him, she needed to know that he was alive but as all of these people entered her room and none of them were Paul her heart felt like it was breaking until she spotted him entering right at the back of the throng of people, "Paul!" She couldn't stop the tears from falling down her cheeks seeing him stood there in front of her, alive.

Weaving his way through the people he wasn't sure what had happened or why she looked so terrified but as Jessie stepped out of the way he wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug but she gripped his neck with a death grip burying her face in his shoulder.

Nobody seemed to know what was going on but as she seemed okay Cassie ushered everybody else out leaving just the four of them in the room. She pushed the door closed before she moved to the bed, "Stephanie, are you okay?"

She didn't want to release him because if she let him go then he might die like he did in her dream and she couldn't let that happen.

The tight grip she had on his neck was slowly beginning to suffocate him so as gently and as carefully as he could Paul removed her arms from around his neck, "Hey there. What's wrong? What happened in your dream?" Using the pads of his thumbs he wiped away the tears that stained her cheeks feeling incredibly bad for her.

"You were gone, one minute you were there and the next minute you weren't."

As she took his hand with both of hers in a tight grip he looked up at Cassie before he responded but the shake of her head told him not to push her any further and as she was the professional he followed her instructions.

Quickly scribbling down what she had observed Stephanie say to Paul and what had led to that point Cassie put the notes away. "Do you want something to help you sleep easier Stephanie?"

"No, definitely not thank you." She wasn't going to sleep ever again. If it wasn't dreams about the plane crash it was dreams about him being in a plane crash and she couldn't take any more of that.

He knew that he needed to leave soon and get Jessie home but he couldn't leave Stephanie in this state, "Sorry Jess, I need to stay a little longer."

The last thing Jessie was going to do was rip him away from somebody who clearly needed him badly, "It's fine, I'll just text the other half and let her know that we'll be a little later than planned but you're needed here, I can see that. I understand that I need to leave to use my phone so I will be back in a few minutes."

Barely hearing his friend his focus was on Stephanie and trying to get her to calm down before he could leave her for the night.


	18. Chapter 18

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update this, for various reasons I have had some troubles with it but I got through them in the end.

* * *

It took Paul half an hour to calm Stephanie down enough to be able to leave her for the night, "Call me if there are any problems and you need me to come back in, I hate the idea of her being so distressed and you being unable to comfort her."

"She'll be okay, I will brief the Nurses that are on overnight about what happened and if the worst comes to the worst then they will likely sedate her simply for her own wellbeing." As soon as she said it she saw the look on his face and shook her head, "We may have to Paul, for her own good. It isn't like we will keep her under heavy sedation; it will simply be so she sleeps peacefully tonight."

He wasn't a Doctor or a Nurse so really couldn't comment on what they chose to do but he just hoped that it didn't come to that for her because sedation always had a lasting effect on the body. "You have to do what you have to do for the sake of her health but I'm not going to argue with you about it. I'll see you tomorrow night though, take care Cassie."

* * *

She watched them leave before Cassie made her way back in to Stephanie's room to see how she was doing, "Do you need anything?"

"I'm okay. Do you do hot chocolate here?"

The groan that left her lips at the mention wasn't one of frustration but one of jealousy, "We do, well technically they do down in the concourse but now I really really want one also."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you want some hot chocolate."

"It's okay, I . . ."

"Cassie, John has only just called in sick, it is going to take Tessa about two hours to get in and Lisa can't stay because she has to go and check on her Dad in the care home as he is sick. Can you stay until Tessa arrives?"

The interruption had Cassie shaking her head, "I was in the middle of a conversation but I guess I can stay until Tessa arrives but only if I can have a ten minute break right now before everybody leaves and we start swapping over?"

"That is fine, you need the break otherwise you'll be in trouble with the higher ups. I'd better get back but thanks."

"Now I was interrupted I have no idea where I was. I should take this break though otherwise I'll get in trouble. I will be back in ten minutes but if you need anything there is somebody around to help you."

Silently nodding Stephanie was secretly grateful to be left alone again, she had the best of intentions but it just felt like she was being smothered and she hated it, at least when it was Paul here he didn't make her feel like he was afraid to leave her alone.

* * *

Five minutes later Cassie returned to ICU with two cups in hand, hopefully this would help Stephanie relax and sleep and maybe not wake up screaming but she was having her doubts whether she was going to allow herself to relax that much as she was so terrified when she woke up. "I'm back."

She raised her head from the pillow and looked towards the door, "That was a fast break."

Cassie was impressed that she remembered but then it had only been a couple of minutes so she would be worried if she had actually forgotten. "Well technically my break isn't over but I came back early as I have a gift for you." Placing the cup on the tray she pulled the seat over to beside the bed and sat down, "You don't mind me joining you for the rest of my break do you?"

"Knock yourself out. I'm not exactly thrilling company so you'll probably get bored quickly." Reaching for the cup she picked it up surprised by how heavy it was, "What did you get me?"

"I got you a hot chocolate, I got myself one also as after you mentioned it I really fancied it and as I have to work late I thought it would do me good not to have more caffeine otherwise I wouldn't get any sleep tonight." Crossing her fingers she hoped that she appreciated it and didn't think she was being overbearing.

She got her hot chocolate? Carefully balancing the cup on her lap she was about to use her good hand to attempt to take off the lid so that she could drink it.

Quickly getting up off her seat Cassie put her own drink down on the tray before she took the drink from Stephanie's lap and took off the lid and then handed it back to her, "There you go. Sorry, I could see the hot chocolate ending up all over your lap and I'm not sure who would be first to kill me if that happened, Paul or the Doctors."

"Paul." She was so grateful that he was alive; she didn't want to fall asleep though because her next dream may come true and he may actually die.

Whatever was in her dream had clearly freaked her out badly, she wanted to say that it had something to do with Paul but then it could also be that he was her comfort because he was all that she knew. "What exactly did you dream about? You certainly freaked me out when you woke up."

"Nothing." She didn't entirely mean to snap at her but she was a little eager to shut down the questions because she wasn't going to talk about it with anybody. "It was just a nightmare, we all have them."

Everybody did, just not everybody woke up from their screaming and wouldn't calm down unless they were with a specific person. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about anything?"

Stephanie picked up her hot chocolate and took a sip of it; this was exactly what she needed, "Thank you for my hot chocolate." She refused to answer the question about whether she wanted to talk about anything; she didn't want to talk to anybody so it was a relief for her when Cassie got called away leaving her alone with her hot chocolate.

* * *

Cassie barely stifled a yawn as she walked through the door in to ICU the next morning. "Please tell me that it was an easy night and will be an easy day."

"Easy night, tick, easy day, yeah I don't think I can add a tick to that."

Almost glaring at her colleague she did not need to hear that. "Why? What happened or what are you expecting?"

She walked around the desk and steered her colleague away from the door to Stephanie's room, "You know how you said that Stephanie fell asleep and had a nightmare waking up from it screaming?"

"Yeesss." She already didn't like where this was going.

"She didn't sleep at all, or very much anyway. Every single time somebody looked through the window or stuck their head inside of the room she was wide awake and she refused any sleeping tablets or sedatives or anything that would help her to relax and sleep. There is no way that she can stay awake forever so at some point she is going to fall asleep . . ."

"And you think that when she does fall asleep she is going to wake up screaming again?"

Well she didn't want to say that but that summarised it pretty well. "Unfortunately I do. If I were you I would talk to the Doctor ASAP and have some drugs or something ready for her when she does as if/when it happens again your chances of getting her to sleep again are slim to none."

Today was going to be so much fun, Cassie could just tell. "I can barely contain my excitement about the start of my shift. How did I get so lucky to work today?"

"Hopefully it will all be okay." She felt bad about leaving her to deal with it after she had worked overtime the night before but her own bed was now calling her name and she couldn't wait to go home.

She hoped that it would be okay too, she had a twelve hour shift to survive and then she had three days off and she could not wait.

* * *

Her eyes were tired and she was struggling to stay awake but the last thing she wanted to do was to sleep. So far she had managed to stay awake all night, she wanted to make it all day too but she wasn't sure she could, she was having a hard enough time keeping her eyes open now.

* * *

The first thing Cassie did when she actually started her shift was to check on Stephanie, as much as she didn't want to deal with it when she was this tired she just couldn't stay away as she was worried about her. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes thank you." So she told a little white lie, it wasn't going to hurt anybody.

Unsure who she was trying to convince that she slept well she couldn't help but shake her head; she would have to be blind to believe her when she said that. "I am surprised; I would have thought by the way that you are struggling to keep your eyes open that you hadn't had much sleep at all."

The last thing that she was going to do was admit that she hadn't had much sleep because they would probably push sleeping tablets on her. "I'm just tired today."

"Why don't you have a nap then? The physio won't be in until later to check on your neck so you have the time right now." If she could get her to sleep then she would be doing her job well, the only problem was that she didn't think that she would sleep, she had already lied to her about sleeping so clearly she was going to be resisting it a lot.

"I might just see if I can last." She wanted to change the subject to get the focus off her sleep, or lack of, "Is there any chance of me being able to get more orange juice with my lunch or something please?"

* * *

When Paul walked in to work Jessie shook her head, "You look rough."

"Thanks, I feel it. I couldn't sleep last night because every time I closed my eyes I heard her scream and saw the sheer panic on her face. I wish I truly knew what was going on in her head."

"I think everybody does, pretty much every single nurse looked like they were out of their depth. Is it okay if I come back in with you tonight please? I have been a woman on a mission before work and I have something to give Stephanie, well I will if my other half completes her mission."

Eyeing her suspiciously he wasn't sure what she was up to but he wasn't going to dictate when she could and couldn't visit. "Knock yourself out. I don't control you and I most certainly am not Stephanie's keeper so if you want to visit her then go right ahead."

"Thanks, I hope that she'll like this."

The conversation was interrupted by the phone ringing so Paul waved at Jessie and made his way to his desk to begin his work for the day.

* * *

Cassie made a special request for a pitcher of orange juice for Stephanie as the vitamin C would help with her not getting outside at the minute and she had just delivered it to her and was leaving the room when the Doctor called her over, "Before you ask, no, she has not slept."

"Ah." It was intriguing how she could read his mind but she didn't bring him the news that he wanted. "I don't want to have to sedate her or force sleeping tablets on her but if she won't sleep and if we can't get her to open up and talk about what the hell she is dreaming about then we will have little choice but to as without opening up about what the dreams about then in my experience they aren't going to stop."

There was likely only one person that she would open up to and it wasn't anybody currently in the hospital. "I will see what I can get Paul to do tonight when he comes in; I think he is our only hope."

"Sure." He didn't like that their only hope was somebody that wasn't even a family member of hers. "I am going to have to get a Psychologist in to talk to her, I just don't know if she will open up to them if she won't open up to one of us."

"The chances of her opening up to them are slim, especially as she is outright lying to me about whether she has slept or not. Hopefully she will open up to them though, I could be wrong and she could not be opening up to us because we are so close to her." She felt helpless with Stephanie but thankfully there were other patients and families who were much easier to deal with although she could understand why she was so difficult, it wasn't intentional, it was just the situation she found herself in right now.

* * *

No matter what she tried to do Stephanie couldn't keep her eyes open any more, they just kept closing and each time she fought to open them again but eventually sleep won and her eyes stayed closed.

Unfortunately sleep did not come without a problem and she was soon dreaming of a plane. As she arrived at the airport she was met by Paul and a woman that she didn't know or recognise which was strange to her but none of her dreams made any sense. The laughter and hugs she shared with Paul made her feel all warm in her sleep and as they climbed on to the plane she felt a sense of peace. The woman seemed to disappear as they sat down together on the plane until she got up and excused herself to use the restroom but as she walked past the curtain the plane seemed to split in two and he disappeared as it spiralled downwards towards the ground.

* * *

Carrying a tray of medical equipment Cassie was discussing the treatment of a patient when suddenly Stephanie screamed causing both women to jump and for the equipment to go crashing to the floor. She was pushed in the direction of Stephanie's room so she clambered over the equipment scattered on the floor and raced in to her room.

"Stephanie, are you okay?"

She knew that she shouldn't have gone to sleep, now he had died, it had to be a premonition, "He's dead."

Her patient was as white as a ghost, she looked utterly terrified and she was talking about somebody being dead and she was confused, it was clearly a nightmare but exactly who had died and was it just in her dream? "Who? What? When?"

"Paul. Yesterday he almost died and now he has died, it is the future . . . or the now as he isn't here so he could be dead now." She was convinced that she was right, that it was exactly what her dream meant.

She didn't know what to say to her, she was convinced that she was wrong but she wasn't sure that she could convince her of that. "Why don't you just relax and try to calm down and I will get you something to drink."

As she hurried out of the room she crashed in to the Doctor who was coming to check on Stephanie having been alerted to her screaming again.

"I was just coming to check on Stephanie."

Pulling the door shut behind her Cassie shook her head, "She is convinced that Paul is dead. Apparently she dreamt that he nearly died yesterday and now he actually died in her dream then it's real. I don't know where he works but I will try and Google him and see what I can find."

"Good luck. I hope you find him, I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve but I hope that you find him."

"If I can find out where he works I can call him and hopefully get him to talk to Stephanie so that she knows he isn't dead and will calm down."

That wasn't a bad idea, whilst she did research he would check on Stephanie's vitals and see if he could convince her to take a sleeping pill or a sedative, something to relax her and try to get her to sleep.

* * *

The next person that called and got mad because they couldn't speak to who they actually wanted to talk to was going to drive her crazy. Almost as soon as she had put the phone down it rang again, "Good morning, you have reached Archer Limited. Jessica speaking, how can I help you?"

"Hi, this is a really strange request but your website lists that you have a Paul Levesque working for you and I am looking for somebody with that name. Is your Paul around six foot tall, quite big with long blonde hair please?"

She wasn't sure whether to confirm that they had the right place or not, it was all a bit weird. "If it is all the same to you I think I would prefer to know what you want with him before I confirm or deny whether he works here."

It was at that point that Cassie realised that she hadn't explained herself. "I am really sorry. I work at the local hospital and Paul has been visiting with a patient and I needed to speak with him urgently if possible."

"Cassie? It's Jessie, is Stephanie okay?"

Breathing a sigh of relief Cassie was grateful that she had the right company and was talking to somebody who knew what was going on. "Define okay, I mean she is doing okay health wise but her mental health not so much. She didn't sleep all last night as she refused to and then she fell asleep this morning and had a dream that Paul died so is now convinced that he is actually dead. I was wondering if at lunch he could call and talk to her or something to try and convince her that he is alive and her dream was not about him."

"It's a shame that we couldn't have given Steph an iPad to borrow because Paul could have FaceTimed with her." She would try to get Paul to call her in lunch, providing he didn't end up having to work through but she didn't want to give him the bad news that Stephanie had another nightmare if he wasn't taking a break.

She had her phone, that had FaceTime. "I have my phone locked up here, I have FaceTime on that so I could give you my number and I could take Steph out for lunch to cheer her up rather than having lunch by myself and then if he is free he can call and if he isn't then at least I tried to cheer her up by taking her out."

"That would be brilliant. Paul should be having lunch between 1 and 2 I believe, does that match with you?"

She could make it match; if she begged somebody to swap she could probably get off at that time, kind of. "I could probably get off 1 to 1:30 rather than the full hour so if you could get him to call between then it would be appreciated. I've got to go back to work but I'll give you my cell number quickly."

After taking down Cassie's cell number she stashed it away somewhere safe.

She had just put the phone down when she saw the person that she was looking for, "I don't suppose you want to swap lunch with me do you? I am on a mission to cheer Stephanie up so was going to take her out for lunch and am trying to get Paul to call her and his lunch isn't until 1."

* * *

When the Nurse appeared with the wheelchair she was confused, the man that normally took her out wasn't here and she didn't remember being told she had to go for any tests. "What's going on?"

"I thought that we'd go out for a spot of lunch, well as long as you want to get out of here for a little bit and have some decent food. I can only spare half an hour as it is my own lunch break but it would be better than staying in here all day."

Maybe getting out of this room for a little while would help her. "Okay, thank you."

Things were tense as she wheeled her down to the concourse but after leaving her for a minute to go and get their sandwiches she returned to her looking a little more relaxed. "I hope you enjoy your sandwich."

She wasn't bothered so much by the food, the people watching was nicer to her right now.

* * *

After spending an hour listening to Dan talk and then having back-to-back meetings Paul felt like his brain was going to explode, all he wanted was for a beer and some pizza but sadly he was going to have to settle for whatever he could find and something non-alcoholic. Rather than just leaving the office he stopped by reception, "Can I get you anything?"

Swamped by some task from Dan she hadn't been able to look out for Paul but hearing his voice she couldn't help but lift her head and smile, "Just the man I wanted to see. You're not going to want to hear this but I fielded a call from Cassie earlier, Stephanie is physically fine but she had another dream this morning after refusing to sleep last night and this time she dreamed that you were actually dead so now she is convinced that it is true." Before he could begin to think too much about it she continued talking to almost try and distract him, "I mentioned in passing that it was a shame that Stephanie didn't have an iPad so that you couldn't FaceTime her and Cassie said that she had her phone with her so if you're free between 1 and 1:30 then you could FaceTime with Stephanie."

There was so much information to take in and right now he could not process it all so he focussed on the most important part and took the piece of paper that she offered after a moment and went to quickly grab something to eat.

* * *

With food in hand he returned to his desk collapsing in to his chair, taking a quick glance at his watch he removed the number from his pocket and began dialling.

Time was passing really fast and Cassie couldn't wait much longer before they went back to the unit. The sound of her phone ringing was a welcome sound, when she saw it was a FaceTime from an unknown number she knew who it was from and she was so relieved. Answering the call she made sure that the camera was facing her as she spotted Paul, "Hey there." She didn't wait for him to answer before she passed the phone to Stephanie, "It's for you."

Confused she blindly took the offered phone from her, ". . . Hello?"

Seeing her face made Paul smile a little, "Hey there Princess."

His voice was so familiar, looking around she tried to figure out where they were coming from.

Upon seeing the confusion on her patient's face Cassie reached over and adjusted the phone in her hand so that she could see the screen better, "Look at the phone."

She looked at the phone and saw his face, how was he on the phone? "Paul?"

"Hey Princess, how are you doing?" The amazement on his face he really didn't know what to feel about, he just needed her to believe that her dream involving him had nothing to do with reality.

How was he there in front of her? He had just died.

"It's okay Steph, I'm right here and I'm okay. I got told about your dream and I promise you that I am perfectly fine, I'm here at work and although I almost died of boredom it wasn't a literal death and I am perfectly fine and I will be in to see you tonight as normal."

Maybe he was really alive, "Prove that you are alive and this isn't some fake thing."

How the hell was he meant to prove that he was alive? Suddenly an idea hit him and he got up from his seat and moved towards the door, "I need your help Jess."

Jessie frowned, "Seriously dude, just call Stephanie will you?"

"I have, I need you to prove that I'm alive."

As if she hadn't been sad about Stephanie's entire story she then hear that she didn't believe that he was alive made it all the worse for her, reaching for his phone she took it from him being careful not to make the picture too blurry. "Hi there Steph. I don't suppose you mind me coming with Paul again tonight do you? My other half has been on a mission this morning and I just received a text to say that my surprise for you is ready."

Something was registering in her brain but she couldn't remember much of anything so she didn't know what was going on. "Prove you really came in before."

"Uh . . . umm . . . we got ice cream and you had this dream last night and woke up with a start scaring the entire unit so much that they all ended up in your room."

"So Paul really is alive still?" Things were starting to become clearer for her but also so much more confusing.

Making a face at Paul as he walked around the desk she rolled her eyes, "Unfortunately for me today he is. Our boss has been in a particularly bad mood lately since Paul returned; he doesn't seem to like how well he is doing."

A smile came to her face, he really was alive, she believed it now. "Thank you. I can't wait to see you tonight, well if Paul's coming too."

He placed his hands on Jessie's shoulders so that he was in the picture too, "You can bet your ass I will be there tonight."

"Paul!"

Jessie couldn't hold in her laughter as he instantly got told off by Cassie.

He just scowled, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"We're in public so hold off on the swearing."

Okay fine, maybe he was in the wrong for that. "I apologise to you and anybody else who heard that and got offended."

Cassie moved closer to Stephanie and made a face, "Just go away Paul. We have to go back to the unit as my lunch is over but we will see you both tonight apparently."

Having to end the call made him feel bad but he didn't want to keep Cassie, "Thank you ladies, I will see you tonight." Blowing them both a kiss he watched the call be ended with a small smile on Stephanie's face before he stepped back from Jessie, "Thank you for that and I am sorry."

Handing him his phone she shrugged her shoulders, "Not a problem Paul, I was happy to do that. You'd better have your lunch before Dan gets on your ass, I'll see you later though."

"Thanks Jess, you're the best." Leaving his friend to go back to his desk he felt more positive than he had but he still wasn't sure if he had truly made a difference to Stephanie or not.

* * *

Sliding the phone back in to her pocket Cassie stood up and removed the brakes from the wheelchair, "Feeling better?"

"If I'm dreaming that Paul is dying and he isn't dead or dying, does that mean that I'm dreaming of the accident and substituting the faces of the people who did die with his face as I remember what he looks like but I have no idea what the people who did die look like?"


	19. Chapter 19

"If I'm dreaming that Paul is dying and he isn't dead or dying, does that mean that I'm dreaming of the accident and substituting the faces of the people who did die with his face as I remember what he looks like but I have no idea what the people who did die look like?"

* * *

For Cassie that had to be the worst question, not just because she didn't have an answer but because it actually broke her heart hearing her voice so quiet and so heartbroken. "I would like to say that I have the answer to that but unfortunately that is beyond my expertise."

She didn't know an awful lot then if she couldn't answer that one simple question. "Thank for nothing."

Unsure what else to say because she didn't want to spill the beans about the Doctor getting a Psychologist in to see her and her then getting mad about it so she just had to live with her being mad at her. As she punched in the code to get in to ICU and opened the door she spotted the Doctor talking to a woman at the desk motioning to Stephanie's room, "I may know somebody who can answer that question for you though."

* * *

The Doctor had no idea that Stephanie wasn't in her room so when the door opened he instinctively looked towards it and was surprised to see her being wheeled back in to the unit, "Where have you been?"

"Lunch. I didn't abduct her, I did tell the other Nurses what was going on even if you weren't around."

"Well I knew you were at lunch but I didn't realise that you had taken Stephanie with you."

She really didn't want to have this argument in front of Stephanie so shook her head, "Not now, I need to get her back in to bed so unless you want to be useful and help, call one of the other Nurses who will please."

"No it's fine, I'll help you."

Cassie didn't say anything, she just turned Stephanie's wheelchair to push her in to her room, "You really are a special patient, a Doctor has lowered himself to actually do some of the manual work."

Ignoring the snarky comment the Doctor helped move Stephanie back in to bed. "How was your lunch?"

"Nice thank you. I saw people going by and I spoke to Paul."

That certainly explained why she seemed more upbeat than she had been when he saw her before lunch. "That's good. I actually have somebody that I thought might be able to help you."

Somebody who could help her? "Uh . . . okay?"

He moved to the doorway before he motioned the Psychologist in, "This is . . ."

"Nadine, my name is Nadine." After everything that he had already said to her before this point she wants to approach her on a relaxed and friendly footing and not a professional one as she seemed to react more positively to those she saw as friends.

"Right, yeah. This is Nadine and I thought you might like to talk to her about your dreams as she knows a lot more about how the brain works than I do." He hoped she said yes because he really didn't know how else to deal with her as she wasn't talk to them.

The Nurse had said there may be somebody who could help her and maybe this woman was that person. "Okay. I have a question that you can try and answer for me if you want."

Taking that as his cue to leave the Doctor walked out of the room pulling the door closed behind him to give them some privacy.

"How did you get the Psychologist to come by so quickly?"

Picking up the file from the counter he shrugged, "I just explained the situation."

She had heard about that before, "You mean you begged?"

"Well that too. I didn't want her to have to wait to be seen, she is far too vulnerable for that so yes, I begged them to see if somebody could be free and it worked." Wandering off he had somebody else he needed to check on.

* * *

Once they were alone Nadine pulled across a chair and took a seat, "So what question do you have that you want answering?"

"I have been dreaming about a plane crash the last two times that I fell asleep and I only see one person's face and that is Paul who visits me every day. Am I substituting the faces of the actual people in the crash with his because he is the only person that I can remember?" She didn't even really remember why she was dreaming about a plane crash or who she thought was meant to be in it but it was the only thing she could think of.

She had discussed with the Doctor what her injuries had been but not what had caused them which left her with a little bit of a problem as she knew that the patient she was sitting with had amnesia, "Uh, I'll be back in a second and then I can answer your question." Exiting the room she didn't see the Doctor but she spotted the Nurse from earlier working hard on a computer, "Sorry to bother you but can I ask you question about Stephanie please?"

"Mmhmm, sure." Quickly finishing off what she was writing Cassie looked up from the screen, "Sorry, go ahead."

"Do you mind telling me how Stephanie ended up in here please? When I was talking to the Doctor earlier we got sidetracked before he told me that and I have only just realised that it isn't part of my notes."

"Oh sure. So from what we have been able to find out via the Police is that Stephanie was in a plane crash with her parents, her brother and her sister-in-law and she was the only survivor."

"So she has no family at all? What about this Paul guy?"

"Officially we have been unable to find any family and none have come forward so I would go as far as to say that her only family have died. As for Paul, he was just somebody who sat with her when she was unconscious as she had nobody else and he's pretty much stayed ever since. He is an incredibly important person to Stephanie but you'll find out all of that for yourself as you talk to her."

That certainly shone a new light on everything for her, "Well that will help me out a lot. Thank you for the information." Making her way back in to the room Nadine sat back down, "I apologise for that, I needed to know actual details to give you a proper answer."

"And?" She didn't mind the wait; she just wanted to have her answer now because she wanted to know if she was going crazy.

Scribbling down the word 'impatient' on her notes she was intrigued by the woman in front of her; there was so much she was going to learn it seemed. "Judging by what I was just told by the Nurse I would say that your assumption is correct. I think you are probably beginning to remember the accident at a time when your brain is least active, when you are asleep, as the accident caused a lot of damage to your brain and it is still repairing itself. It does appear like your brain is substituting the actual faces of the people in the accident with you for the one face that you know."

"How do I get my brain to remember the faces of the people in the accident? I want to remember."

* * *

For the rest of the afternoon Paul was grumpy and irritable, he just couldn't shake his anxiety about her dreams and it didn't make him feel good at all. When the work day ended he was on a mission to get to the hospital to check on Stephanie, so much so that he forgot about Jessie until he heard his name being called, "Yes?"

"Have you forgotten me or can't I come any more?"

He felt bad now; he didn't mean to forget about Jess coming too. "I'm sorry Jess, I just wanted to get to the hospital and check on her so wasn't really thinking."

She couldn't be mad at him for that because she had been thinking about Stephanie a lot this afternoon too. "It's okay. Give me two minutes and I'll be with you, I just have to save this."

True to her word in only a couple of minutes Jess was with him and they were on their way to the hospital to visit Stephanie.

* * *

As soon as Paul appeared at the door to the ICU he was buzzed in which amused Jessie as it wasn't even Cassie at the desk. "Everybody knows you huh?"

"I guess so, I have been coming here long enough but I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not." Pulling open the door he motioned for her to enter before him and then he followed her in.

Jess didn't want to just go ahead and enter the room if she wasn't technically allowed to so she looked over at the Nurse, "Can I go and see Stephanie please?"

"Sure. She's a little tired this evening as she was with somebody a few hours this afternoon but I am sure she'll be grateful for the company."

"Thanks." With a gentle knock on the door she entered the room, "Hi."

* * *

It had helped to talk to somebody who kind of knew what was going on in her head, she didn't have many answers that helped but at least they helped explain her dreams which was something. Exhausted after all of the focussing and talking Stephanie was laying in bed hopeful that she would see Paul tonight, when there was a knock at the door she thought it was him but it was a female, a female who looked familiar but it wasn't Paul.

The first thing Jessie noticed was how tired that Stephanie looked which made her feel a little bad about coming because she was probably not up to seeing her too. "You don't mind me coming again tonight do you?"

She knew that it wasn't entirely polite but she couldn't stop herself from staring at her blankly, she just didn't remember who she was.

"It's Jessie, I came with Paul last night and you saw me at lunchtime when you spoke on the phone."

"Your face is familiar, I know that I have seen you before but I just can't remember I'm sorry."

Shrugging her shoulders she put her bag on the end of the bed, "It's okay, my boss forgets that I exist on a regular basis too and I have worked there for three years so I don't mind." It was the unfortunate truth but at least Stephanie had an excuse unlike Dan.

Paul entered the room a little behind Jessie as he had been looking for Cassie but as she wasn't immediately around he headed in to the room, "Good evening beautiful."

Upon hearing his voice her face lit up, "Paul!"

"The one and only." He walked over to the bed and gave her a quick hug, "How are you doing?"

"Tired. I saw a woman today."

Paul and Jessie exchanged weird looks because neither of them knew exactly what she meant by that but he decided to just gloss over it, "Well I'm sorry that you're tired. We won't keep you for long tonight so that you can sleep."

Before he could walk away she gripped hold of his hand hoping that he would stay close to her, "You don't have to leave early."

Despite the fact that she gripped his hand and obviously wanted him to stay close there was only one chair in the room so was going to ask to share the bed rather than assume that he could. "You don't mind if I sit on the bed with you do you? I don't feel like going in search of another chair."

"You mean you're lazy."

"I'm not lazy, I am conserving my energy." He poked his tongue out at Jessie but she was right, he was too lazy to go and look.

Stephanie smiled softly, "I don't mind, you can sit on the bed if you want."

"Okay good." Walking around the bed he moved to sit on the other side so that he wasn't going to be getting in the way of Jessie as she tried to talk to Stephanie.

When he sat beside her she moved to lean against him, she needed the comfort of knowing he was there and okay and when he put his arm around her shoulder she raised her hand to hold it.

He was only relaxing on the bed because he was lazy but the way that she gripped on to his hand made him realise that she needed this more than he actually knew.

The room was quiet so Jessie decided to break the silence and raised her bag and set it on the bed, "I have something for you."

"Who?"

"It definitely isn't you Paul so shush." Moving the bag closer to Stephanie she didn't want to put it on her lap so held it on the bed to stop it falling off, "This is for Stephanie so dive in when you're ready."

Slowly turning her head to look at Paul she winced at the pain shooting up the side of her neck as she did so, "What is it?"

He saw the pain register on her face and he felt bad, instinctively his free hand moved to stroke the side of her neck, "I don't know what it is."

"Why don't you know?" The touch of his hand made her neck feel better, or maybe it was just distracting her.

"Because Jessie didn't tell me anything at all. Why don't you open it and find out for yourself?" He leaned forward a little and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "I am sure that whatever is in the bag it is wonderful because I trust her."

Reluctantly turning her attention to the bag she was worried about what it was because she hated getting things now that she was more aware but she didn't even know what she liked. She began to remove the items from the bag and placed them all on her lap before she began to go through them, "Books and magazines and . . . what's this?"

"Well there are some magazines and books to keep you occupied when you don't have any visitors but as for the other item you'll just have to look and see." Jessie wasn't going to spill the beans on what exactly the gift was; she wanted to see if she liked it yet.

She used her free hand to hold the gift whilst she used her other hand to rip the paper until she got to the gift and lifted it up to see a beautiful photo frame with a picture of herself and Paul inside of it, "What's this?"

"I thought it would brighten up your room a little for you to have a picture of you and your second favourite person."

"Hey!" Paul was offended, "Why am I her second? I'm totally her favourite person."

Before Jessie could answer Cassie walked in to the room, "That's because I am her favourite person as I bring food."

Stephanie laughed at them fighting over her favourite person was but she was so grateful for the gifts, "Thank you Jess, this is really nice of you."

Cassie placed the tray on to the table, "Can I move these a minute so that you can eat and then we can find a proper home for it all?"

"Sure, thank you." Cassie stood the frame up on the locker beside her bed before she gathered the books and magazines together and placed them on the floor beside the bed, "There you go. Whilst Stephanie is eating can I have a quick word with you outside please Paul?"

The look on her face told him that he whatever she wanted to talk to him about wasn't good so sighing heavily he pulled the table towards Stephanie and removed the cloche for her, "Eat up and I will be back soon."

* * *

Getting up he followed Cassie out of the room and over to the desk, "What's up?"

She hated admitting she was in the wrong, especially when it came to Paul but not because he would rub her face in it but because she liked to think she knew best for her patients for the most part. "Do you remember that guy you met and he gave you his card?"

He sure did, the card was still in his wallet as he contemplated whether to call him or not but he wasn't sure why she was asking as she made it pretty clear that talking to him was a bad move. "I remember him, he said he would meet up with us but I don't understand what that has to do with anything."

"Stephanie saw a Psychologist this afternoon to discuss the dreams as obviously we are really worried about her. The Psychologist is concerned that she doesn't remember her family and is replacing them with you in her dreams so she really wants us to find out as much information about her family as possible. We have already contacted the Police to see what we can do about getting in to her house."

"Getting in to her house?" He was more shocked about that than he was about being asked to find out details about her.

"Yes, to find pictures of her family so that she has faces to put to names and she can remember her family." She hoped that he was going to continue to stand by Stephanie because things were just about to get even more complicated for her, "If you have a problem getting involved with this then let me know and I will handle talking to that guy and you can just visit or not visit, whatever your heart desires."

"I don't mind getting involved; I was just shocked that you were getting Police permission to get in to her house. I will text the guy whenever but do you want to come to the meeting with him or do you want me to just pass on the information or what do you want me to arrange?"

"I don't think we would be able to coordinate our schedules for me to be involved so if you could just find out as much information as is humanly possible and make notes on it so that we can pass it on to the Psychologist that would be fantastic please." She hated putting this on him but he was always so keen to help that she was hoping that he wouldn't mind.

"It would be my pleasure. If you need any help getting stuff from her house then let me know, I don't mind lending a hand there if it will help her get more settled or however you want to put it." He didn't know how to word it because he wasn't entirely sure of the purpose, he knew that they were trying to help her remember her family but beyond that was really a mystery for him.

Although she had given him the out she hadn't really expected that he would take it but she was a little shocked that he offered to come to the house with her to pick out photographs. "That is so sweet of you, you don't have to do that though, it is only to pick up some photographs so that Stephanie can remember them."

"I really don't mind helping you if you want the help. Just let me know but I should go and send that text before I go and check on Stephanie and make sure that she is eating tonight." Leaving the desk he left ICU so that he could use his phone.

 _Hi Joshua, You probably don't remember me but I was the guy with Stephanie McMahon at the hospital. You said that if we wanted to talk to you then you would talk to us. Is it possible that we can meet up (just you and me) so that I can ask you some questions please? I hope your Mom is doing better, Paul._

As soon as he had sent the text he turned his phone back off and got himself buzzed back in to the ICU to go back and check on Stephanie.

* * *

Jess sat quietly beside the bed whilst Stephanie ate until her attention was brought back to Stephanie with the clatter of her cutlery being dropped to the plate, "Everything okay?"

"I'm done eating."

Glancing at the plate she wasn't sure if she was a bad influence on her or she just put her off her food as this was the second night running she hadn't eaten all of her dinner. "You're full already?"

"I never said that." Grumbling lowly she was actually starving but she just couldn't cut up the food and feed herself any longer.

"I know, it's just that normally when people use those words it means they are full." Jess was so confused, she felt like she was taking part in some sort of test and she was failing it miserably.

"I'm too tired and it hurts too much to cut up the food and feed myself so I'm done eating even though I am still really hungry."

Her heart broke for the other woman that she was that tired and in so much pain that she couldn't even finish her dinner. "It's a good thing that you have a visitor then isn't it? I will happily cut up your food for you and even feed you if it will help."

"You don't have to do that." She had resigned herself to not finishing her dinner so she was surprised by the offer.

"I know that I don't **have** to do it but I **want** to, if you want me to."

She wanted her to, she really want her to, "Yes please."

"Not a problem." Standing up Jess pulled the plate towards her a little before she began cutting up the rest of the food for her.

When Paul walked back in to the room he spotted Jess cutting up the food on Stephanie's plate, "Are you stealing her dinner? Can't you wait until you get home?"

Making a face she was not impressed by him, "Shut up Paul."

As he walked back around the bed to sit next to Stephanie he felt like he had hit a nerve, "Sorry, I was only joking and didn't mean to offend you."

Stephanie smiled when he sat back down beside her and placed his arm around her shoulders, "She's cutting up my dinner as I'm too tired."

"That's really nice of you Jess, thank you. Do you want me to move for you Steph? I don't want to make it hard for you to eat."

Before Stephanie had chance to answer Jess jumped in, "You might be in my way if I feed her."

"Why did you tell him?" She made a face because he was only going to fuss now.

"Why shouldn't I have told him?"

"He fusses a lot."

She couldn't help but snigger at that description of him, "He is like an old woman, I have to give you that one. I'm sorry for telling him." As she finished talking she finished cutting up the food so placed the knife and fork back down and slid the plate back across the tray, "Food is all cut up now so you just have to put it to your mouth but if you would prefer to be fed let me know."

"Thank you."

He couldn't help but be offended at being called an old woman, "Excuse me for caring, I won't care about either of you ever again." Despite what he said he didn't move from beside Stephanie and kept his arm behind her shoulders so Jess knew he didn't actually mean it so didn't rush to try to stop him being a drama Queen.

However Stephanie didn't know Paul and she couldn't pick up on these things so her hand was quickly on his thigh as it was the closest part of his body to her, "It's the fussing not the caring. I feel special that you care about me."

Now he felt bad because obviously he had made her feel bad about it all. "Why wouldn't I care about you? You are a pretty awesome person."

"You don't know me, **I** don't know me."

"I don't need to know you to know that you are a kind and caring person. Jess please back me up on this one."

Normally she would tell him that he was on his own and to fight his own battles but the way the other woman had been that was the last thing she wanted to do so that she didn't spin it in a negative light for herself. "Strangely enough I am with Paul on this. You don't need to know who the real you is for us to know that you are a kind and caring person, just look at your reaction right now."

Stephanie reached for another bite of her dinner, after putting the food in her mouth she dropped the fork back to the plate and her head dropped to the pillow, she was exhausted.

Paul stroked the hair back from her face watching her as she chewed her food, "Are you okay?"

She tilted her head to the side to look at him once she had swallowed and smiled through the exhaustion, "I'm just tired, I'm done with dinner."

"How about I feed you the rest of your dinner and then you can go to sleep and wake up tomorrow as fresh as a daisy?"

"Thank you." The only other thing that she could do in response was rest her head on the pillow; she simply didn't have the energy any more to hold her head up.

Not wanting to waste time he moved his arm from around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head before he pushed the tray down the bed and then picked up her plate, "So shall we go with the plane or the train?"

Jess couldn't stop laughing at him and Stephanie was just confused, she had no idea what he said meant but there was one thing she did not want to deal with, "Train? I don't ever want to handle a plane again."

Spearing some food with the fork he felt guilty as she didn't understand what he meant. "I didn't mean a literal train or plane; it is just the way that parents will get their young children to eat their food by pretending that it is a plane or a train. I was just trying to cheer you up, I really didn't mean to have a negative effect on you, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Now that he had explained it she understood it but she'd still prefer train.

* * *

After she had finished her dinner Jess and Paul stayed a little longer but then left her so that she could sleep.

As they walked out of ICU and he turned his phone back on it instantly lit up with the notification of a text message.

 _Sure, not a problem at all Paul. Why don't we meet up Saturday lunchtime? I have to work this week so am not around the hospital until the evening and then I'd prefer to spend my time with my Mom if you don't mind._

Saturday lunchtime it would be, he understood that he wanted to prioritise his Mom and that was fine with him, after all he was only doing him a favour by doing this.

 _Saturday lunchtime is great, thank you very much. Let me know time and place and I'll be there as I'll be at the hospital visiting all day myself._

Paul had stopped walking so Jess had stopped with him and was no staring at him, "What are you planning? You have that devious look on your face again."

"Charming." Rolling his eyes he put his phone back in his pocket, "I was just planning to meet up with somebody who knows more about Stephanie and her family to try to find out all of the information that we can as she is starting to remember the accident and everything so they need all of the information that they can get on them as they know nothing."

"That's good of you to do that. I hope that you can get the answers that you're after for Stephanie's sake."

"Me too, me too." Placing his phone back in his pocket he started to walk again as his stomach rumbled and all he could think about was dinner.


	20. Chapter 20

The progress had been slow in regards to getting Police assistance with them being able to enter Stephanie's house but they still had his meeting with Joshua to look forward to so they were all hoping that they got some good news from that.

* * *

Paul knew that he shouldn't be avoiding his family but he just didn't want to deal with being harassed by his sister about visiting Stephanie still so when she called he ignored her calls and he hadn't actually listened to her voicemails yet either. As he went to leave the house on Saturday morning she called again but he just ignored it and left the house to go to the hospital.

When he arrived at the hospital he immediately entered Stephanie's room, "Good morning."

What was he doing here? She hadn't long had breakfast and already he was here, she was so confused. "Uh . . . hi, shouldn't you be working?"

"Nope, it is Saturday and as evil as my boss is he does give us the weekend off so I am all yours for today and tomorrow unless you want me to leave?" It wasn't that he thought that she didn't want him there but he didn't want to stay if she did want to be alone.

Being able to have his company all day today and tomorrow was going to be nice, "I'd like that."

"That's good." Gently sitting down on the end of the bed he wasn't sure what to do because he didn't want to take her out and about too much if it was going to get him in trouble or cause her any pain if he lost track of time because they had a while today.

"Can we go out please? I am sick of being in here and I just want to leave completely but I know I can't because of my back and my leg they won't let me out for a few weeks yet but I can't wait for the day where they do, I'm going to party." Well not really party but she was going to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted and she would eat whatever she wanted to eat too.

"I do believe that I can arrange that. I will talk to the Nurses and see how long they will let me keep you out and we can see what mischief that we can get ourselves in to." The sound of her giggling followed him out of the room and made him smile, after the week she had had to hear her laughing was just music to his ears.

When the Nurse saw him approaching with a smile on his face she couldn't help but eye him suspiciously, "What are you up to?"

"I am up to nothing, I am just happy as Stephanie is laughing and after this week it is good to hear. So how long can I take her out for please?"

He was right when he said it was nice that she was laughing and him taking out for a while is probably what Stephanie needed. "Go with an hour and a half, two hours max right now and then let her rest and if she is still happy and not too tired and you're around after lunch you can take her out again then okay?"

That would work for him, he could take her out now and then bring her back to rest whilst he went and met up with Joshua for lunch and then he could come back to her and see if she was up to going out again or if not they could just relax. "That is brilliant, thank you. Is the wheelchair in the normal place please?"

"It sure is. Do you need help transferring her?"

He could transfer her easily; he wasn't so sure about putting her dressing gown on her though. "I don't think I need help with that thanks but if you could help put her dressing gown on for me please then that would really help."

Getting up from her seat with a smile on her face she nodded her head, "Sure thing, I will get on that right now for you."

Upon retrieval of the wheelchair he returned to the room to see Stephanie sat on the edge of the bed with the Nurse stood beside her keeping an incredibly close eye on her. "Are you waiting for something?"

"You. The Nurse said you were taking me out for a walk so we were waiting for you to return but you were slow."

He hadn't been slow, well at least he didn't think he had been but he would just go along with it. "I am very sorry for my slowness." Parking the wheelchair in front of her he moved to pick her up to transfer her to the wheelchair but as he did he saw out of the corner of his eye the Nurse watching him very carefully so he was even more careful than normal transferring her. "So where would you like to go?"

"Anywhere."

Anywhere sounded good to him. "We shall see you later Ms Nurse." Knocking off the brakes he took the handles of the wheelchair and gently swung her around to head for the door.

When they were out of ICU he thought about taking her down to the concourse again but thought better of it so went to turn right to take a look around. "Paul!"

"Yes Steph?" There was really only one person in the area who would know him so it had to be Stephanie.

"Wasn't me."

"Paul Michael Levesque, stop walking away from me."

The sound of his full name being used made him nervous, this was either going to be his sister or Mother and this was not going to be good. With no option other than to pull the wheelchair to the side he stopped and turned to see who it was and instantly wished that he hadn't, "Lynn, what are you doing here?"

"I don't know, maybe the fact that you keep swerving my phone calls like you have something to hide."

He didn't have anything to hide but he was swerving her phone calls to avoid the inevitable lecture that he would be receiving. "How did you know that I would be here?"

"Well when you weren't returning my calls or even answering them I figured that you were still visiting here so I thought I'd swing by to see if you were and to see if I could actually get you to talk to me." She didn't want to argue with her brother here in the middle of a hospital but she would if she had to.

Stephanie had heard what was beginning to sound like an argument and she didn't want to be in the middle of it, "It's okay Paul, you can take me back to talk to her."

Snorting he shook his head, "Like hell I am doing that. I said we were going for a walk and we are going for a walk and if my sister wants to follow then that's on her but we are doing this." Without waiting for any sort of response from his sister he started pushing Stephanie down the corridor.

As he pushed her down the corridor and they came to the garden type area that she vaguely recognised she said, "Stop!" Unlike last time there was some movement as people were planting things and she wanted to watch.

"Yes Ma'am." Turning the wheelchair towards the window he flipped on the brakes so that she was safe before he knelt beside her ignoring his sister's existence.

Stood there beside them with not a word being said Lynn decided to break the silence and try to get her brother to talk to her. "So are you going to introduce us or do we have to make up names for each other?"

"It depends, are you going to be a brat or a civilised human being? If the answer is brat then you can take a hike if you think I'm going to put her through that." Protecting Stephanie came above and beyond satisfying his sister's morbid curiosity.

"Paul!"

Lynn had to smile at the way her brother got scolded; whoever the woman actually was she enjoyed it any time her brother got told off by somebody.

Pouting he turned to Stephanie, "What did I do?"

"You're being mean, stop being mean."

"But she is my sister; it is in the sibling's charter that we are mean to each other." There was no such thing as the sibling's charter but it sounded awesome and if there was one it would agree with him although he had a feeling that neither of these women would.

She may not have a memory but even Stephanie knew that he was talking out of his ass. "Just shut up and be nicer to her. I don't want to come between your family so if you being here is an issue then you don't have to come."

This was what he had been trying to avoid, he knew that she would push him away if she thought it was the best thing for him but right now she needed him more than he needed to please his family. "It's fine, she's fine and we're fine." To avoid any more troubles he turned to his sister, "Lynn this is Stephanie, Stephanie this is my sister Lynn."

"I won't remember your name but it is nice to meet you."

She was about to ask what she meant but Lynn realised they were in a hospital and he had been visiting this woman for weeks, or multiple people but either way this woman obviously was pretty sick. "It's okay, I don't mind if you don't remember my name. It's nice to meet you though. Do you see my brother regularly?"

Stephanie couldn't help but smile when she asked that, "I do, he comes to see me every night. Your brother is a good man, he is my rock and I couldn't have survived without him."

He shouldn't roll his eyes at her but he felt like he had to. "Please, you did plenty of surviving all by yourself, I haven't done anything."

Lynn was shocked that he was being such a support but it did concern her greatly given his situation. "You do know that he . . ." A squeak left her lips when her brother suddenly slapped his hand over her mouth effectively stopping her from talking.

The last thing he wanted his sister to mention was his wife so as soon as he got an inclination that she was just about to do that he slapped his hand over her mouth as gently as possible. The way her eyebrows raised and she looked confused made him feel bad so shaking his head he motioned to the other side of the corridor with his head.

Slowly releasing his hand from his sister's mouth he turned to see Stephanie looked back at the people out of the window so he dragged his sister across the corridor, far enough away that she couldn't hear but close enough that he could be back in an instant. "There is something that you need to know, Stephanie doesn't know that I lost my wife recently, she doesn't even know that I had a wife."

"What the hell? Why have you not told her that?" There was no logic to him doing that because she was bound to find out, one of the Nurses would let it slip if they are the same ones that took care of Lola. "You do realise that any of the Doctors and Nurses could let slip at any moment that they took care of your wife too right?"

Except they wouldn't and he knew it which was why he was so confident that he could get away with it. "They won't though; they know how little Stephanie remembers about anything so the last thing they are going to do is mention Lola as it will only confuse her."

"So you have no plans to ever tell her about your wife?"

"I didn't say that I never would, just that right now it is a really not the best time to mention it to her. She has seen my wedding ring but she hasn't really asked any questions about that and to be honest I'm grateful for that fact as I really don't want to have to go through it with her. After she has lost her entire family she really doesn't need to have to deal with my loss too, she is more than struggling enough as it is."

And this was why she didn't think this entire thing was a good idea for him. "Yes, and you don't need to be dealing with her loss as well as your own loss either. You have a lot on your plate Paul, stop taking on other people's burdens when you already have one of your own."

"I do not have a burden to deal with. I dealt with Lola's death before she actually died so now I would prefer to focus on doing some good with my life rather than living my life in misery and regret." It was no wonder he avoided his sister's calls when she treated him like a child like this.

"Have you really dealt with it all or are you just hiding your pain behind this front and using Stephanie as a reason not to think or feel?"

Ignoring his sister he navigated his way through the people back to Stephanie's side, "Are they doing anything fun?"

"I wish, people are people though and it is nice watching them work but can we keep walking please?" At this point he would do anything for her anyway but he was happy to do this and put some distance between himself and his sister, "Of course we can." Flipping the brakes off he manoeuvred the wheelchair back out in to the people to see what else they could find.

* * *

When they next stopped at some chairs and Paul sat beside her Stephanie couldn't help but play nervously with her hands because it had been hard not to notice how his sister just disappeared. "Have I caused an argument between you and your sister?"

Had she caused an argument? Kind of but not really, he just wasn't sure how to explain it to her so he went the easy route. "Of course you haven't, what would make you think that you have?"

"She has disappeared and she didn't seem happy that you were here. You really don't have to stay if it is causing issues with your family."

"If I breathe in the wrong direction lately it causes an issue with my sister. I love her but she is stifling me a little, I'm sure it is just because she cares but she really needs to care about somebody that isn't me for a few days so that I can get a breather from her nagging." He didn't mean to sound ungrateful but she was driving him insane acting like he didn't know his own mind and wasn't thinking clearly.

The way that he was talking it was if the issue wasn't really her but something he hadn't told her about. "So she's not mad at me, just you?"

He couldn't help but smile at that, it wasn't exactly funny but she had really hit the nail on the head, "Exactly. If my sister is honest I don't think she has an issue with you at all, her only issue is with me and the choice that I am making."

"What choice doesn't she like?"

Motioning around them he sighed softly, "This, everything about being here. She doesn't understand that I need to do this but I won't be changing the way that I think just because she doesn't approve, I am an adult."

"Why do you need to do it?" It made no sense why anybody could possibly **need** to be at the hospital because if she could get out of here right now then she absolutely would be.

He needed to do it because after his wife he needed to feel like he was doing something good and he was actually helping somebody because he couldn't help his wife. "It's weird and it is complicated. I should take you back though otherwise I will be having my head chopped off because I will make you miss your lunch."

"The food isn't that great anyway so I won't mind."

He wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended that she didn't seem to mind if he got his head chopped off but he took the brakes off the wheelchair anyway, "I am glad that you value my life so much but I kind of feel like my sister would be really really mad at me if I died here." Avoiding the people as they darted down the corridor Paul moved to push Stephanie back to ICU so that she could eat and rest whilst he had a meeting with Joshua.

* * *

They were so close to ICU when somebody was leaving so hurrying he managed to catch the door before it closed, "Phew, thank God for that."

Stephanie couldn't help but giggle as he was acting like they wouldn't have got in if he hadn't of caught the door.

"What?"

"You're cute."

"Cute? Pfft, I don't do cute. Sexy, handsome, good looking, all words that can be used to describe me but definitely not cute." He didn't notice that his sister was stood talking to one of the Nurses as her back was to him so he went to just push Stephanie back in to her room.

"Paul."

Rolling his eyes he stopped and looked over his shoulder at the Nurse, "We are back and we weren't longer than you told me and now she is going back in to bed to rest so what could you possibly have to scold me about right now?"

"Who said I wanted to scold you? I just wanted to ask if I could have a word with you once you have transferred Stephanie back to her bed please? I have been having an interesting conversation with your sister."

Oh great, his sister had been talking to the nurses which could only spell bad things for his sanity. He didn't respond to the request as he wanted to get Stephanie back in to bed so that she would relax.

* * *

Carefully moving her back to the bed he pulled the blankets up and tucked her in so she stayed warm whilst she ate. "So now you are all comfy in your bed I am going to see what trouble my sister has been stirring up and grab myself some lunch and then I will be back okay?"

"Thank you Paul. You have given up your day off for me and it means so much."

He couldn't help but smile at her as she was being so cute and so adorable thanking him like it was some imposition for him to be here over being at home in an empty house all by himself. "It is my pleasure." Pressing a kiss to the top of her head he motioned towards the door, "I had better not keep the women waiting or I will be in trouble. I will be back after."

It felt like the right thing to do was shutting the door so that was what he did before he moved to the desk, "Stephanie is back in bed so what is it that you both want with me?"

"Your sister was informing me that you have been avoiding your family. Maybe you should spend less time here and more time at home, you can't be driving yourself in to the ground so I would suggest that you take some time off."

Of course his sister had stuck her fat nose in where it wasn't wanted. "Thank you for the advice but I really don't need to take time off. I have been avoiding my family, it isn't that I have been too busy to talk to them, I have just been avoiding them because I knew that they would just be pushing me to stop visiting or pushing me to talk about my feelings and I would just rather spend my time here being helpful towards Stephanie's future and her recovery rather than focussing on the past. I would love to stay and chat but I have a lunch date so if you will excuse me I don't want to be late for it." He quickly escaped before he had his sister breathing down his neck or the Nurse acting like his Mother.

* * *

He was just about to reach the concourse when he felt a hand on his arm, "If you didn't want to have the conversation you only had to say, you didn't have to make up some bullshit excuse and run off."

Of course his sister would follow him and not just leave him the hell alone. "You wish that I was lying and just escaping you, I actually do have a meeting." As if on cue he spotted Joshua pause as he walked across the concourse, "And there he is, so if you will excuse me I have some information to find out. I will talk to you at some point I am sure but for now this is more important." Unfortunately for Paul he didn't get away that easily as his sister just followed him, "Josh, thank you for doing this. How is your Mom?"

Smiling politely the two men shook hands, "She is doing well thanks, they are actually talking about letting her come to stay with myself and my wife as we have a guest room and bathroom she can use on the ground floor. How is Stephanie doing? I am guessing that since we are having this conversation there has been no progress?"

"Who are you? Surely medical meetings should be held in the ICU and not in a random place where anybody could hear."

"I apologise for my sister, she has no manners whatsoever it appears. Feel free to ignore her; I plan to as she has been following me around like a bad smell all day."

Choosing not to get in the middle of a family argument Joshua motioned to some seats, "Do you want to grab something to eat and take a seat? I'm starving."

"Now you are talking my language, I am starving too. I will meet you at a table in a few minutes." As soon as Joshua walked away Paul turned to his sister, "Can you just go away please? I am trying to find out information on Stephanie and her family as right now we know fuck all okay?"

"So what use is that guy to you?"

"He used to work for the family so at least we will know **something** about them which will be better than the nothing we know right now."

The more she was hearing the more that Lynn was curious and wanted to find out. "Could I stick around please? I promise to be quiet and not get involved."

There wasn't really a reason to tell her no so he nodded his head, "Sure, just be good and be quiet."

A few minutes later they were all sat around table with some food in front of them.

"How is Stephanie doing? Is she doing any better than when I saw her?"

"Better? I guess it depends on your definition of better really. She is able to sit out of bed for longer but she still can't remember anything and is having horrendous nightmares about the crash but you know, she is getting by."

Joshua felt bad for her, "I am sorry that she is having such a hard time. What exactly is it that I can help you with?"

"We are looking for any and all information we can get on her family actually. With the amnesia she can't remember them and nobody around her at the moment knows anything about them so we thought that as you had worked for/with them you would be able to tell us something please."

"Of course I can. I was actually talking to one of my friends who still works there and he is currently one of the people in charge of the company until Stephanie is back on her feet and he was saying that there is a really weird vibe in the office without her. Her Dad Vince was the strict boss that scared the beejesus out of everybody, her Mom Linda was the sweet Motherly figure that very much kept herself to herself and focussed on her work, her brother Shane was so obsessed with being everybody's friend that he didn't get a whole lot of work done and nobody took him seriously and then there is Stephanie. She is so sweet and kind, she makes time for everybody but she is also the boss when she needs to be and people know and respect that about her."

As he listened to him talk about Stephanie he could see the person that he knew in there, obviously she was very much still going to be the person that she had been before, well in a way anyway. "I can really see that in her actually. I am looking forward to being able to see a picture of her family to put faces to names and to see if they _look_ how you describe them as a person you know?"

Putting his sandwich down Joshua reached in to his jacket pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, "Actually you can see them now. I wasn't sure if you had already seen a picture or needed one or anything but my friend emailed over this picture that they have in the office and I printed it off for you, it isn't the best quality but it is something."

For whatever reason the only pictures Paul had seen of Steph's family were stiff impersonal shots obviously done for the business so as he took the picture from Josh's hands he couldn't help but smile seeing such a family shot, the way that Stephanie was looking at her brother as they obviously got up to mischief and you could practically feel the eye roll from their parents and who he assumed to be Shane's wife. "Why was this photograph in the office? If you don't mind me asking anyway."

"The story goes that they had been doing promotional shots all day and everybody was kind of tired and delirious by this point which is why it looks so unprofessional. Vince chose to have it placed in the break room as a reminder to everybody that no matter how busy you are you should always be able to laugh and smile. I think also that it was a reminder that they're real people too and enjoy having fun as much as the rest of us because at times the office had been very quiet and serious but once that photograph was placed in the break room everyone relaxed and it became a more productive place to work. You can keep that copy by the way."

"Thank you." Carefully folding the picture he placed it in his pocket, "I just wish that Stephanie could remember this information about her life and her family. Please tell me more about her and her family so that I can at least share that with her when her therapist deems it appropriate."


	21. Chapter 21

Throughout lunch Joshua told him as much about Stephanie and her family as he could before he had to go back to his Mom.

Now that they were alone Paul could feel his sister's eyes on him, "What?!"

"Why are you doing all of this Paul? Stephanie seems like she has a long road of recovery in front of her and she has nobody else so you are literally her only support and that is a lot for anybody to take on."

Sighing heavily he sat back in his chair, "Didn't we already go over this? I just want to do something useful for somebody. She has literally lost everything, her family, her memories and her actual memory. This past week she has been having terrifying nightmares about the crash and I have been the only person that has been able to comfort her. I realise this is because I have been around a lot but at this point she needs me and I am more than happy to be there for her. You don't have to like or agree with what I am doing, all I ask is that you just stop trying to talk me out of it because it just isn't going to happen."

Lynn didn't understand why he was doing it, she understood that Stephanie was clinging to him as he had been there consistently but his desire to do it in the first place confused her. However saying all of that she didn't want to lose her brother so she was going to have to bite her tongue and let him get on with it. "I won't try and talk you out of it, if it gets too much though could you please promise me that you will walk away and also that you are taking good care of yourself."

"I am taking good care of myself. One of the Nurses here acts like my Mother and she wouldn't possibly let me overdo it, she insists on regular breaks for food etc etc, if you don't believe me then ask any of the Nurses, they will be certain to tell you that what I am telling you. I need to get back to Stephanie though as I promised her that we could go out again this afternoon if she was still up to it."

She let her brother leave as there was no point in trying to get him to stay. Despite major revelations about Stephanie's life and health she still had major reservations and nothing was going to change that.

* * *

Returning to the ICU Paul smiled at the Nurse, "Can I leave a note for the Doctor please?"

"Sure thing. What is it that you want him to know?"

Leaving a note to tell the Doctor what he had learned about Stephanie he then made his way in to her room to check up on her after lunch.

* * *

It felt like he had been gone forever to Stephanie because she had long since finished her lunch and he had yet to return so part of her thought that he had actually left for the day.

When he walked back through the door she was so surprised to see him. "How was lunch?"

"Informative. Despite the fact that my sister stuck around and wouldn't take 'go away' for an answer I learned a lot. How was yours?"

"The food was okay and there was no company so I would say that it was better than yours if only because I apparently didn't have to put up with your sister and you did when the two of you are fighting."

"Well that is something." Taking a seat on the edge of the bed he really didn't know what to do with her this afternoon but he decided to give her the opportunity to choose, "So what would you like to do this afternoon?"

She had thought long and hard over lunch about what she would like to do and the answer was nothing, "Can we just stay here please? I don't want to be around people."

"Of course we can. Let me see if I can work out how to get us a television or something to keep us occupied."

* * *

After a relaxing afternoon with Stephanie Paul left ICU and turned his phone back on only for it to immediately beep which he expected to be his sister complaining about something, against his better judgement he opened it.

 _Hi Paul it's Cassie. I've just had a call from the Cops and they said they can help us get in to Steph's house whenever we want, we may have to wait at the house if they're busy but they will get there. When are you free?_

Finally there was good news and the sooner they did it the better.

 _I can do tomorrow. I'll pop back in and tell Stephanie that I'm not sure what time I'll be in tomorrow and then the sooner_ _we get it over with the better for Stephanie._

After sending the text he turned right back around to go back and see Stephanie.

Paul had just left her after spending the day together and she was happy and relaxed, she really enjoyed his company and it made her day more tolerable, she just wished that she had other ways to occupy herself. She was just about to reach for one of the books that were on the table beside her when he walked back in, "I thought that you had left."

"Well charming. I am so glad that you are happy to see me." To save her stretching he took the book from the top and placed it on the bed, "There you go."

"Thank you. So why are you back? You didn't have anything to have forgotten, I think . . . I can't really talk about forgetting things."

It would be easy for him to forget things today but thankfully it was not that. "Actually I just came back to say that I'm not sure what time I'll be in tomorrow. As I left ICU and turned my phone back on I had a text that I have been waiting for and I have to do that in the morning."

Oh, she was looking forward to seeing him tomorrow but if he was really busy she didn't want him to feel like he **had** to come. "If you're busy you don't have to come, I understand that you're only doing this as you feel sorry for me."

Paul perched himself on the edge of the bed and took hold of her hand, "I promise you that I don't come as I feel sorry for you, I come because I enjoy your company and I enjoy seeing your progress."

"I haven't progressed anywhere, I still don't remember your name all of the time."

"But you have." She had come so far, so much further than he actually thought was possible. "Actually you have come a long way. You are now awake, you're talking, you're sitting up, and you're going out and about. If you think about the fact that you were unconscious when you first arrived then you have come a long way."

Stephanie almost wanted to pout, she hated that he was making so much sense, "Can't you just not make sense please?"

"I could try if it would make you happy. Would you like gibberish or just a lot of useless words?"

The twinkle in his eye made her smile, he was so goofy and made her smile even at times when she was sad or when she wanted to be mad at the world for one reason or the other. "Dork."

"Dork language it is then. I will be in at some point tomorrow, I don't know when but I will be here so keep out of trouble until I arrive please."

"I promise I will but only if you keep out of trouble with whatever you are doing."

"That is guaranteed, Police will be there." When the Nurse walked in with her dinner he knew that it was his time to leave, "And that is my cue, goodnight Stephanie."

"Night Paul and good luck tomorrow."

"Thank you." Kissing her cheek quickly he pulled the table up for her dinner to be placed on before he hurried out of the room.

When he got home from the hospital Paul spent the evening discussing plans with Cassie ready for the next morning.

* * *

Nine am on a Sunday morning was disgustingly early but that is what time he found himself sat outside what was apparently Stephanie's house and judging by the size of it then it was going to take them all day to go through it.

A knock at the window had him turning his attention there relieved when it was just Cassie; leaning across the car he opened the door for her, "Jump in out of the cold if you want."

"Sitting in here will certainly beat standing out there. My husband needs the car to run errands as his is in the garage all weekend as the part they needed never came in so he dropped me off and said he'd pick me up later."

"It will also save people thinking that you're a burglar casing the joint."

Unsure whether to laugh or be offended that he thought she looked like a burglar Cassie shook her head, "So how did Stephanie take you not being in there all day?"

"Predictably she tried pushing me away saying that if I didn't want to go and visit her then I didn't have to. I don't know if that was more to do with her or the whole drama with my sister yesterday but the less said about that the better but I think she is going to finally leave me alone."

"Are things not great with your family?" She couldn't help but pry a little given his situation and the wait they had gave her the time to.

"Things are fine really; I have just been avoiding talking to them because I knew that they wouldn't agree with me visiting Steph so it saved me a headache. My sister couldn't take the hint that I wanted to be left alone though and turned up at the hospital and met Stephanie and sat there through the meeting with Joshua but in the end I think she decided that I am an adult who she can't control."

Cassie had completely forgotten about his meeting with Joshua so now they had something else to discuss whilst they waited.

Just about an hour after they had arrived at the house the Police showed up and helped them gain entry before they left them to go and deal with an emergency.

Taking a look around the impressive foyer Paul was feeling more than a little overwhelmed at the size of this place, "So where do we start and what are we looking for?"

"Well we are looking for photographs of her family and any real proof of friends or something. If we stumble across something that will keep her occupied that would be great and I might pick up some of her own clothes to see if it brings back memories or makes her feel closer to herself as a person."

That was one hell of a list that Cassie had compiled and would take them ages to complete it all but he was certainly up to the challenge. "I guess we had better start searching otherwise we will be here all day."

To begin with the two of them decided to start the search in the downstairs rooms together and then split up upstairs. The very first room they entered was what appeared to be the lounge, or more likely one of the lounges, and it had some pictures scattered about the room so they had something to work with hopefully.

The first place Paul looked was the windowsill where there was some frames standing. Picking up the pictures one by one he smiled at the first being of Stephanie with her brother as young children, one of them as teenagers when he was going to a formal event, possibly prom, the final one was of them together at his wedding. "What about this picture of Stephanie and her brother at his wedding?"

"That is such a lovely picture of them together. Hopefully that is a picture that she'll remember or she will enjoy looking at anyway. Let's see what else we can find."

It took them a few hours but they searched the entire house until they had a selection of photographs. Whilst they were at it they picked up some of her own clothes and as Paul went through the cupboard in Stephanie's room that seemed to hold a whole lot of different things he came across a portable DVD player, this had to be something that they could use and work with.

Moving back to the closet he took down one of the smaller suitcases that was left on the almost empty shelf and placed it on the bed, they could use it for the clothes and for the portable DVD player and some DVD's, if he could even find where she had them stored. Quickly pulling the zip closed on the suitcase he carried it downstairs almost crashing in to Cassie at the bottom as she walked across the bottom, "Sorry Cass."

"It's okay; I'll live almost being run over. What is with the suitcase?"

"I found a portable DVD player, I thought if I could find some DVD's I would take it in to her now and if not I'd buy some cheap DVD's from that second hand store in town and take it in next weekend or later this week or something. By the way, the clothes are in here too."

She couldn't help but smile at his comment, "Oddly enough I thought that they might be. It sounds like a good plan to take the portable DVD player in for her though, I think she is going a little stir crazy during the day so this will keep her occupied. I think we're done now so we should head out once we see if we can find some DVD's for her."

They managed to find some movies and a few box sets so hopefully that would keep her occupied for a little bit and then they both headed out for the day allowing Paul to make his way to the hospital.

* * *

As he walked down the corridor with the suitcase trailing behind him he was actually really looking forward to it because he missed her this morning. Being buzzed in to ICU he made a beeline for her room and took a second to just watch her flicking through the magazine with the iPod headphones in her ears. Propping the suitcase up against the wall he moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

Engrossed in her magazine and the music on the iPod she didn't see him come in but as soon as Paul sat down she practically threw the magazine out of the way. "What are you doing here?"

"Well there is this woman who I kind of like hanging around and I thought as I was done with what I needed to do I would come and see her."

"So why are you here?"

He laughed softly at the question, it felt like they went through this same dance every day that he came to visit her. "Because you're the woman that I like hanging out with. If you want me to go again as you're more interested in your magazine and music then I will, I don't mind."

"Don't leave me alone please." She didn't want him to go and leave her alone as last night she dreamt of the crash again, it wasn't as frightening as before but it made her feel so alone and she didn't like it.

Eyeing her suspiciously he got the feeling that something had happened but he didn't want to push her on it, "Good thing I have nowhere better to be then isn't it? I actually have a couple of surprises for you, if you want them?"

Stephanie's face lit up and she smiled brightly, she liked the idea of a surprise because it brought something new to her day whilst she was stuck here in bed. "I like surprises, I think. What do you have?"

The excitement on her face was adorable, "I guess I will show you and hopefully you will like your surprises." Picking up the suitcase he placed it on the chair as he pulled it closer as it was far too heavy to put on the bed, slowly unzipping the bag he opened the lid, "Voila."

The bag was quite far away so as best she could she leant forward to look in it but she couldn't quite make out a lot of it, "You brought me clothes?"

"I brought you **your** clothes, there is a difference. The reason that I couldn't come in first thing this morning is because I was meeting Cassie, you know the Nurse who acts like my Mom, at your house so that we could get some of your things."

They had been to her house? She had so many questions about that but she wasn't mad at them for going to her house. "What is it like?"

"What is what like?" He had been watching the wheels turn in her mind and it made him wonder what was going on and what she thought of him actually being in her house.

"My house. What does it look like?"

He knew better than to answer the questions as he would probably only end up getting himself in trouble as he would say the wrong thing and they would all be mad at him. "Don't you want to see what else I've got? I didn't bring just clothes you know."

"You did?!" She perked up a little as there may be something that linked her to her past in there.

"I did." Reaching in to the suitcase he pulled the DVD player out from between some clothes where he had put it to be safe, "I found this portable DVD player and I thought that you might enjoy watching some DVD's when there is nothing else for you to do in the day."

The thought of having something to do made her happy because she had been so bored, "How do you know I will like the DVD's? How will I know that I will like them?"

"They were in your house so at one point you must have liked them. If you don't want this then it is okay, I will take it away." Something felt off about her but he couldn't put a finger on what exactly it was.

She appreciated everything that he was doing for her but she was just getting really irritated lately because she was not making any progress with her memories and it felt like she was stuck in a giant hole and couldn't climb out of it.

Paul had planned to take her out for a walk when he arrived but it seemed like she was not in the right head space for it so he decided to do something to hopefully take her out of whatever was keeping her brain occupied. "What if I fire this thing up and we figure out how to use it and watch a movie or something together? As long as you don't mind my fat butt squashing you in your bed anyway."

"Yes please. You're not fat but you can pick what we watch, I don't mind today." She tried to smile but she wasn't sure if he would believe it or not.

The smile didn't reach her eyes so whatever was bothering her was really bothering her and knowing Stephanie she wouldn't open up to him about it but he would try later. He placed the DVD player on the table and took out the cable before he started to go through the DVD's he had picked up to see which one he thought would be most likely to make her smile.

Once he had his pick he closed the suitcase and put it on the floor out of the way and then plugged the DVD player in exactly where Cassie had told him to, "Here goes nothing, let's hope this works."

* * *

They paused the DVD when the Nurse came to check Stephanie's vitals and didn't even let her leave the room before they pressed play again as they were both enjoying it so much.

Once the movie ended he took the disk out of the machine and shut the lid, "So how was it?"

Cuddling closer to him she just wanted to be held now, "Good, I enjoyed it so thank you."

He tightened his arm around her shoulder, "You're welcome, I'm just glad that you enjoyed it. What would you like to do now?"

"Nothing, just you and me sitting here and doing nothing would be nice please. You make me feel like everything will be okay and I need that today."

Everything was going to be fine, he believed in her that she was going to make progress every single day, or he hoped that she would anyway. "Take it one day at a time and don't rush too far ahead and you'll be fine."

As she rested her head against him Stephanie didn't know how she would do that, she was always jumping ten steps ahead wanting to be better and remembering things and she wanted to be walking again but right now she couldn't remember anything and she couldn't walk but one day she would be able to, she had to be.


	22. Chapter 22

Paul had just handed some files to Dan's Secretary for her to pass to him and was turning to leave when he heard his name being called, "Yes Dan?"

"We haven't talked since you came back. How are you finding it?"

Rolling his eyes he couldn't believe this guy, "Of course we haven't, I have been far too busy trying to bring back the clients that you have been driving away." Thankfully for Paul before his boss could rip in to him his phone started to ring and he decided to get it, "Sorry I need to get this in case it is important." Once he was a safe distance from his boss he answered his phone, "Hello?"

"Is that Paul Levesque?"

Side-stepping the stationary delivery he kept walking down the hall, "Maybe, it depends on who is asking?"

"My name is Nadine, I am Stephanie's Psychologist. Is now a good time for us to have a chat?"

Well crap, that didn't sound like it was going to be good at all. "Sure, I'll just go somewhere quiet and we can talk. What can I help you with?"

"Did you tell Stephanie that you had been to her house?"

Using the break room as his quiet space as the room was empty he shut the door behind him as he entered, "I did. I'm sorry about that; I wasn't thinking when I was telling her about the stuff that I had got for her. I swear I didn't mention the photographs that Cassie gave you though, if she knows about them then that is not my fault."

"It's okay, she didn't know about the photographs until I mentioned them to her but she has decided that she isn't ready to see them yet. I was actually wondering if you had a photo of her house please? Just one of the outside and not one of every single room I mean. She was asking about her house saying that she didn't know what it looked like but she was interested in seeing that and seeing what sort of life she used to live."

Maybe her being interested in her old life was a good thing, he wasn't sure though. "You do know she appears to have been rich right? Her house was fucking huge so I don't want to go and take a picture of it for her and have your permission to show it to her for that to be a bad thing."

She wasn't quite sure whether to be annoyed that he would think that she didn't have the entire story about what they knew about Stephanie's life or not. "Don't worry I know, I have spoken with Cassie at great length about it since I met with Stephanie this morning. If you have a picture of her house then I have no problem with you showing it to her even if it is super fancy and the size of a football pitch."

"It isn't that big but as long as I have your permission I will go and take a picture of it before I come and visit Steph tonight so that she can see her house and maybe it will help and maybe it won't."

Nadine's initial thoughts seemed like they were right, he did seem like he had feelings for Stephanie and that was something that she was going to have to be careful of as she wasn't sure that her patient was in a position to deal with his feelings for her. "You really don't need to go out of your way for her; there will be other opportunities to get a picture of the house for her to see."

It wasn't going that far out of his way so he wished that she would just say thank you and be done with it. "I won't be going that far out of my way to take the picture so I don't see why you are arguing with me on this. You are the one who asked if I had one and I don't so I'm going to take one." Snapping at her wasn't going to help him or Stephanie but he was sick of people mothering him lately and telling him what he should or shouldn't be doing, he was an adult who could make his own decisions.

"If it isn't far out of your way then go ahead, I am not about to tell you not to do it so thank you. I should get back to work but thank you for this Paul, it was enlightening."

Ending the call with Nadine he needed to go back to work before he got in to any trouble for slacking.

* * *

The work day ended and Paul made a small detour on his way to the hospital to take a picture of Stephanie's house.

As he was buzzed in to ICU he saw a look on Cassie's face that told him that he was not going to like, "Good evening Cassie. How was your day?"

"I spoke to Nadine."

Great, that did not fill him with happiness that those were her first four words, "You do know that isn't how your day went right?"

Rolling her eyes she tossed the crumpled up piece of paper beside her at him, "Stop being a pain in my ass. Nadine said you were kind of rude to her and I said that was unlike you."

"Yeah well she called me at work and was trying to tell me what to do and after dealing with my sister this past weekend I was not in the mood to listen to her. When I speak to her I will apologise but you all keep telling me what I think, what I know and what is best for me like I can't decide these things for myself and it is annoying."

She didn't want to feel guilty for looking out for him but when it seemed like everybody was behaving like she was she realised that maybe it was too much. "I'm sorry Paul. I thought that I was doing right by you in looking out for you but I can understand how frustrating that it can be."

Having picked up the paper from the floor he placed it on the desk, "It's okay, I'm not mad at you because it is nice that you care about me but dial back the crazy part of it. I should go and check on Steph and maybe show her the picture of her house."

"Go ahead. She may not be awake though, I don't know if she slept last night or not but when I checked on her not that long ago she was fast asleep."

If she was asleep then that wasn't a big deal, he could handle sitting there quietly and watching her sleep. "Thanks for the heads up." When he entered the room he was surprised to see her wide awake, "Oh, you're up?"

"Nope, I'm down, lying down."

He wasn't sure if she was serious or if she was joking but either way it made him laugh, "Cute. I actually meant that I thought that you were going to be asleep as Cassie said when she checked on you that you were."

"I wasn't really, I just pretended that I was because I wanted to hear what they were saying when they were talking about you." His hand rested on the bed beside her so she picked it up and began playing with his fingers as she found a form of comfort in it.

"They were talking about me? Aww shucks, everybody loves me. In all seriousness, what were they saying about me?" It was only when he had finished talking that he realised she may not remember and that may make her feel bad which was not what he was going for.

"You were in trouble with somebody, you were rude to them. I can't remember anything else though I'm sorry."

Lifting her hand to his mouth he kissed the back of it, "It's okay, I actually know why they were talking about me and who is mad at me. I spoke to Nadine earlier and I was kind of rude to her. I know I shouldn't have been and I will apologise to her but she was just the latest in a long line of people acting like they know what is best for me and unfortunately she was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Nadine?" He was lucky that she remembered that he was in trouble; her brain didn't stretch to remembering names of people that she had probably met once.

"Your . . . I think she said she was a Psychologist. Whatever she is she called to ask me if I had a picture of your house because you had expressed an interest in seeing it, or so she said."

Why had she expressed an interest in seeing her house? How had that even come up? "I'm confused Paul, I don't know why I had that conversation with her."

She looked fragile so moving to sit on the bed he pulled her carefully in to his arms and held her close, "I wasn't here so don't know the exact conversation obviously but my guess would be that she asked you if you wanted to see pictures of your family as Cassie and I went to your house to seek some out on Sunday. I know that you didn't want to see pictures of your family but you said you would like to see one of your house so I swung by your house before I came here tonight and took one for you, if you want to see it."

Stood in the doorway Cassie cleared her throat, "Sorry to interrupt but I have Stephanie's dinner here. I apologise that it is late but somebody forgot to order it."

"You mean you weren't going to feed her? What sort of unit are you people running here?"

Glaring at Paul as she put the tray down she slapped his arm gently, "Oh shush, be quiet will you? You know that it wasn't intentional so move and let the lady eat."

"Well that was me told." Standing up he pulled the table even closer to her, "Tuck in and enjoy your dinner and I will sit here quietly like a good boy before I get told off yet again today."

"You learn fast Paul, good boy."

Stephanie giggled at the sour look on his face, "Don't be sad, she'll be gone soon."

"Can she be gone now so I don't have to listen to her please?"

Cassie playfully slapped him on the arm, "Well for that you can stay and help Stephanie if she needs it."

Like that was an actual issue for him, he would rather stay here with her and be useful and guarantee that he wouldn't be told off than be outside of this room and potentially get told off by a few people. "Fine, I will stay here and help whilst you go and attend to people who need you and don't have somebody to look after them in your absence."

It was soon just the two of them again so taking the cloche from the top of her dinner Paul had to admit that it actually looked kind of nice, "You know that dinner doesn't look too bad, let me know if you need any help."

"I will, thank you."

Taking a seat beside the bed Paul propped his feet up on the bed itself much to Stephanie's amusement, "This isn't your home, you should take your shoes off if you want to put your feet on the furniture."

"Technically my shoes aren't on the furniture. My legs are resting on the edge and my feet are above the bed itself, hopefully. If you don't like it though I'll move my feet, I was just being lazy."

"It's okay." Popping a fry in to her mouth she liked that she had a few fries also out of guilt as they had forgotten her.

* * *

Once she had finished her dinner Paul push the tray down to the end of the bed for her. "Before Cassie interrupted us with your dinner I asked if you wanted to see a picture of your house? You don't have to if you don't want to but I got told you had an interest in seeing it."

She wanted to see it but she was worried about finding out about what her life really was like before the accident. "I want to, please. Before you show me the picture can you tell me what you actually thought of the lifestyle I may live?"

"Judging by your house I would think that you live comfortably, what your actual lifestyle was like I wouldn't know though I am afraid. If you are too worried to look at the picture without Nadine then that's okay, I don't mind."

No, she wanted to look; she wanted to see what her house looked like. "Are we sure that it is mine and that I own it?"

"That is something that you would have to ask Cassie or the Police but I am pretty sure that it is owned by you." Moving to the top of the bed he pulled his phone from his pocket before he took a seat, "Are you sure about this?"

She anxiously gripped on to his arm, "I'm ready."

With his one free hand he unlocked the phone as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head, "If it is too much then tell me, let me know if there is anything at all that I can do for you."

"Thank you." She took the phone from his hand and stared at the house on the screen, it was incredible. "It's so . . . big."

"Tell me about it, I got lost. It isn't unmanageable; it was just incredibly easy for me to lose my way as I had no clue where I was going."

She rested her head on his arm continuing to stare at the phone until the screen went black, "It's gone."

With his free hand he reached forward to unlock the screen again, "There you go."

"Thanks." As her fingers touched the screen of his phone the picture suddenly became bigger, "I broke it."

"No you didn't, it's a touch screen and you can make the pictures bigger." To demonstrate he shrunk the picture back to the normal size, "See, back to normal now."

Between the way the phone worked and the photograph of her house she was fascinated by it all and most of his visit that evening was spent discussing various things about her house.

* * *

A few weeks had passed since that night and they hadn't spoken about her house since and she still had not looked at the pictures of her family but she had been focussing on trying to remember conversations and she had been working hard on a little bit of something to surprise Paul with now that her broken bones were healed and they were confident that her body was ready for it.

"Is he here yet?"

"Not yet, relax will you? He will be here any minute now so just relax and get ready for when I tell you that he is here."

* * *

Paul's day had been terrible, he had been chewed out by Dan and by two clients that had been forced on him as they wanted to leave and apparently he was the only person who could possibly save the accounts. Thankfully the day was over and he was ever so close to being close to Stephanie and he knew that being around her would make his day better. Leaning against the wall as he waited to be buzzed in he said a silent prayer that Cassie would not have a go at him about anything today.

As soon as the buzzer went indicating that somebody wanted to be allowed inside Cassie looked through the window to see who it was and when she saw Paul's face she moved beside Stephanie, "Ready?" As soon as she nodded she indicated to the Nurse on the desk to allow him in as she helped Stephanie.

Eventually the sound of the door unlocking brought him out of his haze, swinging open the door he instinctively smiled at the Nurse on the desk, "Evening." He didn't ask his normal question though as his attention was drawn to the movement just past the desk, "Stephanie?"

Smiling brightly she focussed on moving the crutches and not falling on her face, "Look Paul, look what I can do."

"You're walking! I didn't know you were even trying to." Wrapping his arms around her when she was in front of him he hugged her tightly but not too tight, "No more bed to chair transfers for you."

Cassie came behind Stephanie with the wheelchair, "Enough exertion for one day Stephanie. Let's sit you back down and you can do it again tomorrow."

"Okay." She allowed Paul and Cassie to lower her to sit back down in the chair before Paul wheeled her back to the bed and helped her transfer over from the chair to the bed using her feet this time and not him carrying her.

The smile permanently etched on her face tonight was infectious; it made every bad part of his day seem entirely insignificant. Pulling the blanket up so it covered her again he perched himself on the edge of the bed, "Somebody is pleased with themselves today."

"I am, I can walk again and that means they'll let me out soon."

"They may not." He didn't want to rain on her parade but when she was still having problems with her memory, "You do still need some support so they will probably be hesitant to let you go home to an empty house."

For Cassie it felt like she always walked in in the middle of them having deep conversations but she had to feed Stephanie. "So what are you two talking about that I am interrupting tonight?"

Silently moving away from the bed he moved the table for her dinner to be put on, he wasn't going to get in to this conversation, well not the middle of it.

"Now that I can walk again I will be able to go home again soon." Looking at Cassie hopefully she wanted her to set Paul right and tell him that he was wrong and that she would be able to go home.

Did she crush her dreams or deflect it on to the Doctor? Silently putting the tray with her dinner down she stepped back, "I can't answer that question. Unfortunately as I am not a Doctor I can't tell you what decisions they are making with that regard. Enjoy your dinner."

To Paul as he watched her he thought that Cassie was acting weird and suspicious so with the answer that she gave and the way that she ran off he knew that he was right when he said that they weren't about to let Stephanie back home any time soon. "I hope your dinner is delicious."

"It is my favourite of all of the food but that doesn't say a whole lot. I can't wait to get out of here and have all sorts of different food. Maybe we could go out and have dinner together when I'm out of here so that I can say thank you properly?"

Knowing that the chances of her getting out of there soon were slim and hearing her so focussed on was hard for him as he didn't want to hurt her feelings but he didn't want her to get her hopes up so much. "Why don't we just take things one step at a time? Right now you need to focus on being able to walk better, for longer and maybe even unaided. It's all about taking baby steps so let's focus on those things and then think beyond that."

Was he really saying that once she was out of hospital he was done with her? She actually thought that they were going to be friends long after she was out of here but she was so wrong apparently. "Oh, okay then."

She suddenly looked so destroyed and he felt guilty for it as she quietly tucked in to her dinner. As she seemed to be in such a bad mood he was probably risking his arm by doing this but he took a seat on the side of the bed beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "If we are to eventually go out for dinner though there are some serious questions we need to think of answers to, like what exactly are we going to have for dinner?"

Once she had finished her dinner the two talked, they talked about everything but her getting out of there as Paul tried to keep her mind away from that.

* * *

The next morning he was at work and was meant to actually be doing work but he couldn't stop thinking about Stephanie and her desire to get out of hospital and he felt bad for her, he just wished he could make a miracle happen and make it possible for her to go home.

Jessie dropped some mail on to Paul's desk, "If Dan saw you slacking he would kill you."

Jumping as the mail dropped in front of him he looked up to see Jessie stood there, "Did you want something?"

"I said that if Dan saw you slacking he would kill you. Is everything okay?"

Should he talk about it? If he didn't he was probably going to lose his mind. "Stephanie is walking now, well starting to walk and she thinks that now she can walk she will be able to go home soon but her memory is still shit. They're not going to let her out to go home without her having anybody to take care of her and I feel terrible because she is so excited and I don't have the heart to break it to her because I don't want her to lose her sparkle, her happiness, her motivation, not when you saw how down she was and how much she wanted to die at one point."

His mood made sense now but he was not a miracle worker and he wasn't going to bring back her memory or find somebody who gave a damn about her. "I know how much you love her but you can't fix this, you can't give her her memory back nor can you find somebody who gives enough of a shit about her that they would take care of her."

"I don't love her." Yes he cared deeply for her but it wasn't anything as crazy as him loving her as he hadn't lost his wife that long ago and he wasn't ready to move on from that.

Jess was surprised that the only thing that he focussed on was her saying that he loved Stephanie, she didn't even mean it like **that** , all she meant was that he loved her as a friend. "I never said that you wanted to be her boyfriend, I simply said that you loved her and I meant it in a purely platonic way . . . unless it isn't entirely platonic."

It was platonic, wasn't it? This was confusing and totally off topic and wasn't helping him at all. "Not the point and at this point I don't even care to analyse this shit. I just really badly need some help and I need somebody to tell me what to do, the best way to handle it all and how to keep her spirits up when somebody does break her heart by telling her that she can't go home."

As the phone started ringing she knew that she needed to go but before she did she had one small bit of advice, "Don't worry about what the Doctors and Nurses will say and whether they will break her heart or not. Focus on being there for her and being her friend, just be her support and don't try and save her because she has to learn that life isn't always going to go your way, you just have to pick yourself up every time that you get knocked down." Running off she had to answer the phone before she lost her job.

He hated how right Jessie was because she would probably gloat if she knew that he thought that she was right and he hated that he had been trying to protect her so much that he hadn't thought that maybe he was being too overprotective. It was hard for Paul to do it but he managed to begin working although he did frequently find himself drifting off in to his thoughts of her.

* * *

Lunchtime hit and he was desperate for some sugar to pick his mood up a little and the sandwich he had brought with him wasn't going to cut it so he was going to quickly run out to pick up something before he came back to work through lunch to make up for the daydreaming that he had done.

Walking down the street he was surprised when his phone went off, nobody called him anymore, or nobody that wasn't his Mom or sister anyway because it seemed like nobody knew what to say to him. When he looked at the screen of his phone he contemplated not answering it as the number came up as 'Private number' which was just suspicious but he knew if he didn't answer the call then it would bug him for the rest of the day, "Hello?"

"Hi Paul it's Cassie, do you have a minute?"

"Whatever it is I didn't do it and it isn't my fault." If he got his excuses in fast they couldn't blame him for whatever it was she was calling him over.

She couldn't help but chuckle at that and she needed that laugh, "Thank you for that Paul, I needed that."

"I was deadly serious, whatever happened it isn't my fault and no matter what Stephanie said I did not suggest anything."

"So was I. This morning has been terrible as we lost one of the patients due to complications post emergency surgery so I needed the laugh. Anyway the reason that I am calling is that the Doctor wanted me to ask you if you could come in early to talk to him please?"

Oh shit, that couldn't be a good thing. "What does he want to talk to me about?"

"I don't know, I'm just a Nurse and I pass on the messages, I don't get told the details I am afraid." It wasn't like she didn't try getting out of the Doctor what he wanted but he just wasn't having any of it.

He grumbled lowly, he now had to go the entire afternoon wondering what it was the Doctor wanted to talk to him about, was it good or was it bad? "Well in that case do you know how long it will take? If it will be a while then I'll try to rope Jessie in to visit so that she can sit with Steph so that she doesn't get suspicious that I'm not there seeing as she seems to sense when I am supposed to be there and am not."

"It might be a good idea to bring her, if she has the time to spare anyway because I really don't know how long the meeting will take. Can I tell him that you will definitely be here then?"

Sighing heavily he accidentally kicked over somebody's bag and almost tripped so stopped to pick it up, "Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going." Once he was safely back on two feet and away from the obstructions he could focus on his phone again, "Yes, tell the Doctor that I will be there tonight to talk to him. I will see what I can do about leaving work early but I really can't make any promises today."

"That's fine." Cassie would take anything as long as it meant that the Doctor could have the conversation he was so desperate to have.

"I'll see you tonight Cassie." Ending the call he needed food and then he needed to get back to the office and see what Jessie was up to later.

* * *

Jessie was having a working lunch because nobody seemed available to cover for her. When she saw Paul struggling to get back in to the building with his hands full she couldn't help but laugh at him, it wasn't the best response as she should go and open the door but she couldn't leave the desk unattended, or that was the excuse that she was going to use when he did get in.

Finally able to get in the door he ignored the amused look on Jessie's face and placed her coffee down, "I brought you a coffee."

He brought her a coffee? Okay she was suspicious; nobody ever got her anything without her asking if they didn't want anything for themselves in return. "Thank you for the coffee but what exactly is it that you want?"

Leaning on the desk he smiled shyly, "I guess I am transparent huh?"

"You're not transparent as such; nobody gives me anything without wanting something in return so I figured you're the same even though we're good friends. I'm not mad at you for bribing me, as long as it doesn't involve me having to talk to Dan."

"It doesn't." He was relieved that she was okay with him asking a favour, "Are you doing anything tonight? I was wondering if you would be willing and able to visit with Stephanie for a while? Apparently the Doctor wants to talk to me about something so I might not be able to spend the time that I would want with her and I thought that you may be able to."

That most certainly was not the favour that she was expecting but she would take it. "I can certainly do that, I was planning to go in tomorrow but I can certainly do tonight instead. I will text my girl and let her know plans have changed and I'll come with you tonight."

"Thanks, you're the best."

"Well duh, I already knew that." Taking the coffee from the counter she took a sip, "So fill me in on what is new with Stephanie."

He would but that was something that he thought Stephanie would like to share so with a smile he shook his head, "I think that I will leave that up to her to share." Not leaving time for her to ask questions he walked off.

"Ugh, men." Rolling her eyes at her friend Jessie picked up her phone to send the text so that she could finish her lunch and get on with her day as she was really excited for tonight now.


	23. Chapter 23

After much persuasion Paul managed to get himself and Jessie out of work early so that they could go to the hospital and he could have the meeting and spend some time with Stephanie afterwards.

When they arrived at ICU Paul lingered around outside out of sight of the door just in case with Stephanie now walking that she was out of her room and could spot him.

Opening the door Jessie made sure that Stephanie wasn't around before she beckoned Paul inside, "Come in, she isn't around."

Now with the knowledge that she wasn't around he followed Jessie inside, "Thank you again for doing this for me."

"Shut up Paul. I don't want to hear you talk because you are in my bad books." The grin she gave him should tell him she didn't really mean it but she didn't want his thanks when he wouldn't tell her what was new with Stephanie. "I am going to see Stephanie and you can go and get told off so have fun."

Paul grumbled lowly as she made a fast escape in to Stephanie's room leaving him to lean on the desk, "So where is the Doctor at? I got out of work early for this thankfully."

Cassie shook her head at him, "He is just talking to pharmacy about something, he will be back soonish so get comfortable as unfortunately this may take a while depending on how busy they are."

"I can deal with that; I got out of work early so I had even less time around my boss."

Giggling as she moved around the desk to go and check on another patient, "Well I'm glad that we could help."

* * *

When she heard somebody at the door she turned her head to see who it was surprised to see Paul's friend, she couldn't remember her name but she recognised her face. "Hi. I think I know you, you're Paul's friend right?"

She couldn't help but smile that she vaguely remembered her but it probably helped that she had been visiting two to three times a week. "That's me, I'm back again. So how are you doing?"

"Good, I'm really good; I should be going home soon." She was so happy that she could share her news with somebody else.

There were so many questions running around in Jessie's head that she didn't even know where to start. "No wonder Paul didn't tell me anything and told me that I had to ask you, that news is huge. What makes you think that they will let you out of here soon?"

Shifting on the bed so that she was sat higher up and a little more comfortable Stephanie crossed her legs, "I can walk again. It is only a couple of steps at a time at the minute but it is walking and I am doing it."

No wonder Paul was so secretive about what was up to, that was even bigger than her going home soon. "Oh my God are you serious? I am going to kill Paul for keeping this from me."

"I only showed Paul yesterday for the first time but it is so amazing to be up and walking, even if it is only a few steps at a time for now but I will get stronger and soon I won't need a wheelchair at all."

"Can you show me? Not right now but maybe after you have dinner you could walk from here as far as you can go towards the door of the ICU and then I can wheel you from there out for a walk and to do some spying on people?" If she put it off long enough then Paul may be done by then and they could all go out together and if not she was happy to go out just the two of them.

The idea of getting to show off her walking to somebody else made her really happy but she wished that Paul was here too. "I can do that, I would love to. We need to ask the Nurses for some crutches though as I don't have any in here."

"As soon as they bring your dinner then I will ask and even beg them to let us have some so that you can show off for me." It was hard not to see how excited Stephanie was when it came to being able to walk again and she could see why Paul was so afraid about her getting her heart broken by them telling her that she couldn't go home.

* * *

Paul hadn't been sat waiting too long when he saw the Doctor walking towards him, "What's up Doc?"

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me Paul."

The two men shook hands as Paul stood up, "You're welcome; I am hoping that I can actually help you or whatever it is that you want me for."

Motioning down the hall this needed to be done in private, "Follow me and we will have this discussion when we are in private."

Reluctantly following the Doctor down the corridor to what he assumed was his office he took a seat, "So why have I been called in here exactly? I haven't done anything wrong as far as I am aware."

"You haven't done anything wrong, not at all. I actually wanted you to come in so that we could discuss Stephanie's progress."

Why the secrecy if they were just discussing her progress? "I already know that she is starting to walk."

"I know you do but it isn't really that which I wanted to discuss with you. I assume that you are aware of how excited she is to leave hospital and go home since she has begun to walk?"

"How could I not?" Paul had a feeling that he knew where this was going and if he said that he wanted him to break it to Stephanie that she couldn't go home then he was going to tell him to kiss his ass and to do his own dirty work.

Laughing dryly the Doctor shook his head, "Anyway, I am guessing that you are probably aware that this can't happen right now aren't you?"

". . . Yes. Where are you going with this exactly?"

"Where I am going with it is that she isn't going to like the answers that I have for her regarding her getting out of here. Unless her memory vastly improves then once she is healed to the point that she can be discharged then she will be stuck in here for a few more weeks whilst we try to arrange some sort of home care for her and I am not sure how to break all of this to her."

"I'm not breaking it to her. Aren't there like rehab places that she can go to like get better?"

"There are rehab places and I have spoken to all of the ones that aren't a million miles away and they won't take her. Because her only issue is going to be her memory they say that they don't cater for that so there won't be any other options for her. I don't want or need you to break it to her, I just need advice on how I do as I am very aware of how dark her thoughts have gone and as you are closest to her I thought you would know best."

Was that a good thing? He wasn't a Psychologist and had no proper experience so why exactly was he coming to him? "Honestly no matter how you break it to her it won't go down well. She is so excited about getting out of here now that she is able to walk again that no matter what you say it is not going to go down well and she will not be happy to hear it."

That was what the Doctor was afraid of, "So there is no hope of me breaking this news to her and not breaking her heart?"

"None whatsoever. I tried explaining to her that there was little chance of her getting out of here as she is right now and she did not take it well so I backtracked a little, I didn't say she would be able to but I just tried to take her mind off of the no I had given her." He hated that she had nobody to support her and take care of her at this time, she deserved so much better than what she had but a lot of it was most likely down to losing her entire family although she had to have friends that could have stepped up for her but instead they had all walked away.

If she wasn't going to take the no well the Doctor started to think of the ways in which he could soften the blow for her or make it better and he was drawing a blank. "Would you be there when I have this discussion with her please? At least if you are there and she kicks me out you can hopefully try and do or say something that will help her understand that I am not being an evil old man because I want to ruin her fun."

"Do I have to?" It wasn't that he didn't want to be there and didn't want to support Stephanie but he didn't want it to ruin their relationship if she thought that he was siding with the Doctor who wouldn't be giving her what she wanted.

"You don't have to but I thought that you may want to be. It is okay if you don't, I will handle it on my own."

"No it's okay, I will be there." Why could he just not say no to this woman? "If you could make it either the weekend or late in the afternoon I would appreciate it please as I have to juggle work too."

Letting out a sigh of relief that was music to his ears and he was actually more comfortable telling her now, "That's fine, I can work with that. Thank you for coming in early this evening but I won't keep you any longer as I am sure that you are dying to see Stephanie."

He wouldn't exactly say dying but he was interested in seeing what trouble the girls were most likely getting up to. "Thank you." Standing up he made his way out of the room to go and find out.

* * *

As soon as Stephanie had her dinner in front of her true to her word Jessie got up to go and see if she could get them to agree to let Stephanie show off her walking but as she walked out of the door she nearly crashed in to Paul, "Crikey, are you trying to scare me half to death?"

"Not at all but the look on your face is priceless. I was just coming in to see what mischief the two of you have been getting up to now that I am free." Steering Jessie away from the door he didn't want any follow up questions to be overheard.

Allowing him to lead her away from the door she looked around for a Nurse as they walked, "So how did it go?"

"It was okay, he wants me to be there when he breaks the news that she can't go home, he also wanted advice on how to break it to her but I told him I had no idea because I literally have no idea."

She hated to admit it but she had no ideas either which meant that Stephanie was going to be in for a whole world of hurt when they told her, "Are you going to be there with him?"

Looking at her like she was crazy he shook his head, "What do you think?"

"I'll go with no then. Are you sure you want to put yourself in that position?"

Was he sure? No, he just felt like he needed to do it for her though. "It is the right thing to do; she has nobody else and is going to be utterly heartbroken so she needs somebody there with her to support her even when the Doctor leaves."

Her friend was a good man but he was actually crazy to think that he was getting out of this in a simple way as it seemed like Stephanie was going to need help and support for a long time to come and he either felt obligated to be there or he felt more for her than he was willing to admit so was going to be stuck with her for an undetermined amount of time. "If you need support after supporting her then you know where I am, I am just a phone call away."

"Thank you. I should go and see her now before she thinks that I'm not coming at all."

"Hold on whilst I ask the Nurse this and then we can go back in together."

A couple of minutes later and they were walking back to the room with Jess carrying crutches and Paul pushing the wheelchair. Just outside the room she stopped walking, "Stay here two seconds so I can surprise her with you." Stepping inside the room she held up the crutches, "Look what I've got."

"They're going to let me walk?" She was surprised that they agreed to it as she had been practising earlier and they told her no more for today.

"Absolutely they are, I even found somebody to push the wheelchair for me." She hoped that he took his cue but just in case she turned to the door however she didn't need to worry as the wheelchair was soon being wheeled in to the room.

Worried that it was going to be somebody that she was meant to remember but just didn't she bit down on her lip nervously however she didn't need to worry and was soon smiling brightly, "Paul!"

"That's me, I can't let you girls go having all of the fun without me now can I?"

Suddenly her dinner wasn't so important as she reached for him delighting when he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, "I didn't think you were coming as you didn't come in with . . . I can't remember her name."

He couldn't help but laugh softly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head he pulled back and took a seat on the bed by her feet, "Don't worry, I forget her name too. Jessie managed to get out of work a little early but unfortunately I didn't manage to which is why she came first. Finish up your dinner and then you can show off your walking to her."

Thankfully she bought the reasoning and quickly went back to eating her dinner.

* * *

When she finished her dinner Paul took her plate away leaving Jessie to help her put on the dressing gown.

Quickly confirming that the plan was okay with the Nurses still he returned to the room and opened up the wheelchair ready to go behind her before he helped her to the edge of the bed, "Are you sure you're okay to walk?"

"Yes!" Glaring at him she wasn't going to let him take this away from her.

"Well that was me told. Are you ready now? Please don't bite my head off this time."

The fact that he was asking if she was ready wasn't bad, it didn't make her angry like him asking if she was sure that she was okay to walk, "I'm ready."

Helping her up from the bed he made sure that she was safe and steady on her feet with the crutches before he took a step back and allowed her to take small steps with her crutches for support.

Jessie began to walk beside Stephanie making sure that she was safe but she was so impressed with how far she had come. She waited until they reached the door and Paul had the wheelchair behind her and helped her sit down before she said anything.

Whilst he was giving the crutches back to somebody she knelt down beside the wheelchair, "I can't believe how far you have come, I am so proud of you."

"I'm just happy that I can walk and get around and soon I can go home again and learn all about my old life and see where I fit in now."

She had to bite down on her lip hard so that she didn't say something that she would regret or that would get her kicked out over but much to her relief Paul returned and she didn't have to speak.

"So where are we off to ladies?"

"Can we go people watching please?"

As she pulled open the door for him to push the wheelchair out Jessie nodded, "What she said."

"Yes Mistresses, your slave will take you wherever you want to go." He felt like a slave but in the best way possible and he wouldn't change any part of it.

* * *

Things hadn't worked out how he had hoped and Paul ended up with a lunch date with the Doctor and Stephanie, he had called in a favour at work to give him a longer lunch break but he had arrived at the hospital too early so to kill that time he found himself wandering around the stores in the concourse.

He wasn't even sure what store he was currently in but he came across some notebooks and began to wonder if maybe one of those was a good idea, she still wasn't remembering much so at least then she would have a record of it and maybe he could put pictures of regular people in her life in the notebook with their names so that she had a reference. With an idea in mind he picked up a notebook and some supplies that Stephanie could use to decorate the cover with once he had covered it so that it was personalised and entirely hers.

After paying for his purchases he made his way up to ICU, once he got buzzed in he went straight to the desk and kept his voice low, "Is the Doctor in? We have an appointment."

"Why are we whispering?" Despite being utterly confused she answered him in an equally as quiet voice.

"I don't want Steph to know I'm here, not until I have the Doctor with me as there are too many questions as to why I am here so early."

"Well I was going to ask that." Laughing softly she picked up the phone to page the Doctor as she wasn't sure where he actually was, "The Doctor has been paged, he will hopefully be here soon for you so take a seat."

"Thanks." Smiling sheepishly he had a favour to ask and felt bad for it, "I don't suppose you could just hide a shopping bag for me could you please?"

"Seeing as you asked so nicely sure, just don't make a habit of it."

"I won't, I promise I won't. Thank you though, I appreciate this." Handing the bag over he went to take a seat and wait for the Doctor.

Five minutes and the Doctor was hurrying down the corridor, "I'm so sorry about keeping you, as you can imagine things are pretty hectic around here and I got called away. Can you still do this?"

"Yes I can, it isn't a problem at all as I have a little while before I have to be back at work."

"Let's do this then. We'll both go in and I'll explain to Stephanie that she won't be going home any time soon and I will explain why that won't happen and you'll be there to agree that I'm a total asshole and should be fired with sprinkles of ways to agree with me." If things went smoothly then the Doctor would be happy but currently his hopes weren't high that she would still like him.

* * *

Stephanie's day had dropped off, she had received her daily dose of physio first thing and now she was just waiting for lunch and then she had the afternoon to wait for Paul.

She didn't know what was going on outside but it was clearly something as she could vaguely hear voices talking, if only she was nearer the door and could be nosier. She didn't need to wonder for too long about what was going on outside as the Doctor walked in to the room and her hopes raised a little that maybe all of the commotion was about her going home. Her hopes remained high but she was then confused when she saw Paul walk in also, "Paul?"

"Hello gorgeous. How is your day?"

"I . . uh . . . what are you doing here?"

"Well isn't that charming?" Chuckling softly he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, "Here I was thinking that you actually enjoyed my company."

"I do but I haven't had lunch yet so you're not supposed to be here." She couldn't wrap her head around his appearance, it was not the weekend and that meant that he should be working.

"Actually I invited Paul as I wanted us all to have a conversation together."

"What do you want to talk about?" The look on his face wasn't a good one but maybe he was just pretending that it was going to be bad?

"I wanted to talk about you going home as I hear that you are talking about it a lot." He didn't mean to drag it out but he just wanted to take it slowly for her. "I don't know if you realise this but with you being unable to remember things properly you are classed as being a danger and we are unable to allow you to go home on your own. I have been in discussion with rehab centers but they don't cater for people who simply have memory loss so for now until I can find another solution you are stuck in here with us."

She wasn't getting to go home? Even though she could walk they weren't letting her leave so that she could be in her own home? "But I don't need to be here, I'm taking up a bed that an actually sick person could use."

"I know that this isn't what you want to hear, it isn't what I wanted to tell you either but there are no other alternatives for your ongoing care."

"Oh." At this point she didn't know why Paul was here because he hadn't said anything but she wanted to be alone. "Can I be left alone now please?"

"But Steph . . ."

Shaking her head she was miserable and just wanted to be left alone, "Please just leave me alone."

He didn't want to leave her alone, the last thing he wanted for her to do was to wallow but he couldn't exactly force her to let him stay so he reluctantly stood up, "Okay, I will leave then. Do you want me to come back tonight or not?"

"If you want to, you don't have to keep coming now you know I'm stuck here indefinitely though."

He wasn't going to join her in her pity party because that wasn't going to help her. "I thought we were friends, friends hang out all of the time no matter what the setting is so I shall see you tonight." Moving to the head of the bed he pressed a kiss to her head, "It'll be okay, everything is going to work itself out but for now please don't cause too much havoc."

"I promise I won't."

The fact that he managed to get a smile out of her before he left made him happier leaving her be but he was going to have to do something to try and help getting her out of there.

* * *

When Paul left the room the Doctor walked out with him pulling the door closed behind him, "How did that go in your opinion?"

"I honestly don't know, she seemed really down with the news but I got her to smile in the end so maybe it won't be too bad. We'll see how she is this afternoon and then this evening when I come back to visit and that will really tell you how she took it." He wanted to believe that she took it well and understood but he knew how desperate she was to get out of there.

"I'll make sure that the Nurses keep a close eye on her but don't smother her because I don't want her to try anything, especially now that she is more mobile."

"She won't but thanks, I appreciate that. Can you grab my bag from behind the desk for me please and I'll head back to work."

"Sure, thanks for coming by to do this, I appreciate it." Stepping behind the desk he ducked down to look for the bag eventually finding it pushed to the back, standing up he held it out to him, "Here you go."

"Thanks. I'll see you tonight." With bag in hand he headed out of the hospital to go back to work for a few hours before he came back again to check on her and make sure that she hadn't taken things too hard and still remained positive.

* * *

When she spotted him walking back through the office door Jess motioned for Paul to come to her.

Knowing that she probably had a message from Dan telling him that he was in trouble Paul stood beside the desk and waited and hoped for the best. As soon as she was off the phone he smiled sweetly, "I'm sorry if I am late."

"You're not late; I just wanted to check up on Stephanie. How is she?" When he shrugged his shoulders she couldn't help but shake her head, "That well huh?"

"It isn't that it went badly, it's that I honestly don't know how she is. Things didn't go as she wanted them to and she was quite dismissive and wanted us to go immediately. She is happy for me to go back tonight but I'm not entirely sure how she is going to be."

"At least she is letting you go back." She felt so bad for the other woman, she knew how much she wanted to get out of hospital and there was no hope of it. "I wish I could fix her memory for her."

"You and me both." Lifting the shopping bag and putting it on the desk he opened it for Jessie to look inside of, "I wish that I could fix her brain too but as I can't however I have come up with a plan to hopefully help. I plan to use that paper to cover the notebook and then tonight I'll give Steph the glitter and miscellaneous other crap in the bag for her to decorate the book with and then she can use it to help her with stuff that she has to or wants to remember. That's a good idea right? It won't make her even madder at me will it?"

"I would hope not. I actually think that it is a really good idea so you know, she may actually be happy that you're helping." She also realised that she may not but with clients walking in there wasn't the time to say that to him as it would only disappoint him, "I'll catch up with you later Paul."

"Yeah sure, catch you later Jess." Taking the bag off his desk he went to go and catch up on some paperwork.

* * *

After a brief meeting with the Nurses following his discussion with Stephanie and the Doctor had moved on to his next patient but she was still on his mind, he wanted nothing but good things for her but it was simply impossible to make them happen.

* * *

Stephanie had never felt so alone than she did when the Doctor said that she was stuck in hospital for the time being as she had nobody to look after her, even with Paul and the Doctor in the room she felt like she was on a tiny little island so far out at sea that people didn't even know it existed. As she felt so alone with them there she asked them both to leave, she would rather be miserable alone without the pity looks. She was so grateful that the pulled the door to when they left because it allowed her to slide down in the bed pulling the blankets right up over her head covering her so that she could cry in peace.


	24. Chapter 24

All the Nurses had been gathered together after the Doctor had spoken with Stephanie and told to keep a close eye on her and to not leave any medicine or anything she could use to harm herself in the room when they weren't around. Most of the Nurses hadn't taken him seriously so none of them had gone to check on Stephanie or even just looked through the window.

It was well over an hour before Cassie was free but as soon as she was she went to check up on Stephanie, as she opened the door she was frightened to see that she was completely beneath the covers. Rushing over to the bed she yanked the covers back so that she could check up on her, "Stephanie?"

Blindly reaching for the blankets she tried to pull them back over her without looking up.

Keeping a tight grip on the blankets Cassie pulled them a little lower, "I will not be letting go until you look at me and talk to me so save yourself the trouble and just roll over. I need to know that you are okay."

"I'm fine." It may have been muffled as she hid her face but hopefully now she would leave her alone.

She couldn't manhandle the other woman but Cassie couldn't exactly leave her as she was so sitting down on the edge of the bed to prevent her pulling the blankets up over her head again. "I'm still not leaving. You can say, well mumble, that you're fine until the cows come home but that won't change the fact that I need to see you and I would like to talk to you."

Rolling on to her back she stared at her with a raised eyebrow, "Until the cows come home?"

Cassie smiled sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders, "My brother has been living and working in the UK for about ten years and he has just come back for a visit and he said that and I liked it . . . even if I don't have the first clue what it means."

She wanted to be down and mad but she couldn't help but laugh, the fact that she had no idea what she was saying made her smile without her even trying. Once she realised that she was smiling she frowned and crossed her arms, "Not fair."

"What isn't? I didn't pull any tricks on you; I was just influenced by my stupid older brother." She wanted her to relax; she wanted her to take her mind off what the Doctor said and just live each day for what it was.

"You're trying to make me laugh so I'm not sad."

"Well you not being sad would be better; I genuinely wasn't trying to trick you in to cheering up." The level of distrust that her patient had in her was quite disheartening for Cassie as a Nurse as she always tried her hardest to build a relationship based on trust.

"Whatever. Can I be left alone now please? It isn't like you are in here to tell me anything that I would care to hear about as the Doctor has already shattered my dreams." The sooner that she was left alone the happier that she was going to be.

She wasn't going to get anywhere so she surrendered and stood up, "Consider me out of your hair. If you need anything just press the button and we'll be here." As she left the room she looked back at her patient and sighed heavily, as soon as she had moved from the bed Stephanie had already pulled the blankets back up however some progress had been mad as now they didn't seem to be over her head which was something at least.

* * *

It took everything in Paul to not slam the phone down, that was the third person this afternoon to shout at him because Dan had promised something that was not possible on any planet. After what had happened at lunchtime he was not in the mood to listen to anybody else shout at him and to try and explain to them that they had been lied to by the boss. Shutting down his computer he gathered all of his things together and headed for the door, before he actually left he stopped at reception to talk to Jessie, "I'm out of here. If Dan has a problem with me leaving earlier tell him that he can kiss my ass . . . or you could just tell him that the lies he has been telling clients is coming back to bite us on the ass and I have had enough of being shouted at so I've gone home."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Put it this way, since lunch I have had three people shout down at the phone at me when they realise that what they were told is lies and somehow I have gotten the blame for it when I have never spoken to them before in my life. After lunch I just can't handle the bullshit so before I shout back at somebody I'm leaving. I know it isn't that much earlier than normal but you know Dan would look for any excuse to be mad."

"Don't worry; I've got your back on this. Have a good evening and I will see you tomorrow when hopefully it will be a better day for you. Give my love to Stephanie though, you know just so that she knows that I'm thinking of her and maybe she won't be as cranky with you as it may distract her." She felt bad for the poor guy as his day seemed to have gone from bad to worse and now it could get worse but she was hoping not for his sake.

* * *

Thirty minutes later and Paul arrived at the hospital; he didn't even get through the door of ICU before he was accosted by Cassie, "Paul! I am so glad that I caught you."

"Were you waiting for me?"

"No, well yes, kind of. I'm not out here because I was waiting for you; it just happens that I bumped in to you here. I'm not sure if Stephanie will be any sort of company tonight or even if she will actually want you there because earlier I found her lying with the covers over her head and had obviously been crying but she was particularly annoyed when I unintentionally made her smile, she thought I was trying to trick her or something."

As much as he wanted to say he was surprised by any of that he really wasn't, it was pretty much what he had expected. "I'm not surprised to hear any of that to be honest, she desperately either wants out of here or wants to go home or maybe even both so being told no was going to be hard for her to hear. I am going to try and distract her with a project tonight so she will hopefully forget about it for a little while and may relax but I make no promises about that."

With a heavy sigh Cassie gripped on to his arm and walked with him towards ICU, "At least you have a plan to at least try to take her mind off it all; it is more than anybody else has managed to do this afternoon so I'm hoping you will manage it."

"You and me both." Making their way in to ICU he left Cassie and went straight in to Stephanie's room, "Good evening."

Forcing a smile she wasn't sure how she felt about seeing him, part of her wanted company and part of her wanted to be left alone. "Hi."

The difference in the greeting he received from her was huge and it worried him, what if she was forever going to be mad at him because he didn't fight her corner? Why did he even care? It wasn't like they were best friends going back many years. He was too emotionally drained to figure out answers so he settled for letting her reaction slide, "So would you like me to stay or go?"

"You can stay, I don't mind. I'm not the best company but if you can handle that then you can stick around." She didn't have a problem with him being there if he didn't have a problem with her mood.

"It's okay; I actually brought something that may take your mind off your mood. I bought this notebook and I thought that if I put a cover on it you can decorate the cover and we can use that to help you remember things as you can write down all of the important things and you have a reference point."

That actually sounded like a good idea and it gave her a little hope. "If I have a notebook that I am using to keep notes and is basically being my memory will that change whether I can go home or not?" She didn't think she would get a 'yes' from him but it didn't mean that she had to stop trying.

"You know that I want to so badly say 'yes' to you right? Sadly as much as I want to say yes it doesn't change the facts and the facts are that it goes deeper than using a notepad to remember things for them to allow you out. For what it is worth, I think it sucks that you are stuck here but I would prefer you stayed here and were safe than went home and something happen to you."

"Jeez, everybody just loves saying no to me today. How am I going to decorate the cover?"

Unsure if she was joking or not he decided to ignore the first thing that she said, "Well I have glitter, coloured pens and stickers so hopefully there is something in there that will make a pretty cover for you."

Having insisted that she was the one to take the dinner to Stephanie Cassie was now holding the tray on her way to the other woman's room, she knew that Paul had arrived and she hadn't seen him leave so she was hoping that it meant he was managing to cheer her up. As she reached the door she heard them talking which was progress on earlier so stepping inside she was hoping for a good greeting, "Good evening, dinner is here."

"Oooh thanks, I am starving."

Rolling her eyes she placed the tray on to the table and pulled it closer to Stephanie, "Yeah, it's so not for you so keep your grubby hands off."

Playfully pouting he moved his chair further down towards the bottom of the bed, "I see how it is. I guess I will just sit here quietly like a good boy and cover this notebook whilst she eats her dinner."

She felt bad that he was hungry, "You can have some of my dinner if you want."

"It's okay; I'm not that hungry really but thank you for the offer." It meant a lot to him that she offered him some of her dinner after the day that she had and the mood that she had been in as it seemed that maybe she was coming out the other side of the anger and disappointment. "I am going to sit here quietly so enjoy your dinner."

The bottom of the bed was empty as she had crossed her legs having sat up to eat her dinner, "I'm just going to borrow the end of your bed so please refrain from kicking me too many times."

Giggling softly she playfully kicked at the end of the bed before she crossed her legs again, "Don't worry, the bed is all yours."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later and Stephanie had polished off her dinner, "All done. What now?"

Having already covered the notebook he picked up her tray, "Now I remove this so that you can decorate your notebook however you want to." He left the room and returned no more than two minutes later empty handed.

Not sure of the logistics to her being able to decorate the notebook because he didn't want to make a mess he tipped the contents of the bag out on to the bed but then he realised he had spare paper that he used to cover the notebook so just covered the tray with that and then placed all of the potential decorations and the notebook on top of it, "Now you can just decorate the cover however you want, I know there aren't a lot of options for decorations but I hope you find something you like."

She was long since finished listening to him as she had picked up the notebook and was studying it before she put it down and started to go through the stickers, glitter and coloured pens that he had brought.

Sat on the bottom of the bed watching her as she worked on the notebook he couldn't help but think that this was helping her by distracting her and taking her mind from wanting to leave but not being able to, for the time being anyway because he was sure that once she finished with the cover she would be back to being depressed.

* * *

Twenty minutes later and she was done so putting everything together in a neat pile she sat back against the pillows wincing at the pain in her back, she really shouldn't have sat forward for so long.

Immediately noticing the way that she winced as she sat back Paul stood up, "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Mmhmm, I just sat forward for too long and now my back is really painful. I'll be fine soon enough though."

Having only just recovered from a broken back he refused to take any chances so went to find somebody to ask for her to be examined just to be on the safe side.

When he silently left the room she was so confused but when he returned with the Doctor she frowned, "What now? Do you want to ruin my entire week instead of my day now?"

"Relax, I asked him to come and check your back out because I was worried about it because of your broken back and now you being in pain."

"He is telling the truth, I am here to look at your back because he is concerned about the pain you are in." It was a different Doctor from earlier so he was mainly baffled by why she was reacting like that to him as he had only had good interactions with her before now. When she didn't respond he stepped forward taking it as a sign that she was in agreement, "Please roll on to your side away from me."

After a few minutes of examining her he stepped back, "You can roll back over now. It doesn't appear that you have done any damage so I will just order some painkillers and an anti inflammatory in the hope that they ease the pain. If they don't help then you need to let the Doctor or Nurses know and they can continue to give you more painkillers. I will arrange that now so will leave you to it."

"Thanks Doc." Paul sat back down on the bed and reached for her hand, "Are you mad at me?"

Staring at their joined hands she was confused, "Mad about what?"

"Mad that I called the Doctor about your back." Stroking the back of her hand with his thumb he wanted them to be real friends again and being forgiven for this was the first step.

She tugged on his hand until he relieved the gentle yank on his arm by moving to sit beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder rather than held her hands so she rolled over on to her side and rested her head on his chest, "Hmm this is more comfortable. What were we talking about?"

"We were talking about whether you were mad at me for calling the Doctor about your back. Are you comfortable now?"

The ability to focus on more than one thing at a time was no longer hers, "I'm not mad at you for calling the Doctor because my back was really painful, I'm just too stubborn to say anything. Lying like this seems to have eased the pain."

A small snort passed his lips, "Glad that my body makes a nice pillow for you. You are still going to take the painkillers and whatever that other pill was aren't you?"

"I'm going to say yes because you'll only move if I say no."

"You have it right there, I want you to be comfortable long after I have gone and the pain you seemed to be in isn't going to pass with an hour of lying comfortably." Hopeful that she wasn't going fight it when the actual medication arrived he allowed her to continue to lie with her head on his chest.

The clearing of a throat interrupted the silence in the room but Stephanie didn't even lift her head to see who it was and what they wanted. "Yes?"

"I have some painkillers and an anti inflammatory pill for you to take on Doctor's orders. Is everything okay?"

Reluctantly rolling on to her back she pushed herself in to a seated position, "I was working on the notebook and hurt my back."

Cassie went to pour a glass of water for her patient but she was beaten to it by Paul who moved to pour on as soon as he was free to move, "Thank you Paul."

"You're welcome." Passing the glass to Stephanie he relaxed back to allow Cassie to pass the tablets across, "Stephanie now has a memory notebook so anything that she needs to remember can be written down there and she can look at it and see it instantly."

Smart idea, picking the notebook up off the table she looked at the cover and was impressed by the design, art wasn't her thing but she tried and it looked decent enough. "I like the way that you think Paul and I like the way that you work Stephanie, very nice work."

Quickly taking the tablets she drank half of the glass of water before she handed it back to Paul and snuggled down resting her head on his chest again.

Not saying a word about their predicament Cassie walked out of the room again but it didn't mean she hadn't noticed and wouldn't raise it with Paul before he left.

Fully aware that she may be cuddled close to him simply because of how rough her day had been he didn't say anything about it or try to move her but after an hour of silence and no movement he slowly disentangled himself from her being careful that he didn't hurt her back any more than it already was. Once he was stood back up he realised that she was fast asleep so leaving the notebook and a pen on the cabinet beside the bed he silently packed up all of the materials she used to decorate the cover and slipped out of the room.

Silently pulling the door closed behind him he stepped over to the desk and waited for a few minutes before Cassie finally approached him, "I thought that you would have been done working for today by now."

"I should be, I am now. We've had an emergency and nearly lost a patient so it was all hands on deck and I haven't had time to clock off yet. What is it I can do for you though?"

"I'm sorry that you nearly lost a patient, I hope that they are doing better now." Inhaling deeply he slowly exhaled steeling himself for whatever was about to come, "When I disentangled myself from Stephanie she was fast asleep, I assume that it was the day that she has had and the painkillers but I thought that you should know before I left that she is asleep."

"Okay thank you." It had taken a minute but suddenly Cassie remembered the situation she had walked in on, "So is there a reason that you and Stephanie were so cosy when I walked in earlier?"

"What are you trying to ask me?"

"I'm trying to ask you why Stephanie was practically lying on top of you when I walked in earlier?" She just wanted to protect him, potentially from himself at this point.

Groaning he leant on the desk, "You came in with painkillers; you should know that she was in pain."

"I do, it doesn't explain the way that she was laying on you though."

"I moved to sit beside her and she moved closer and found that lying with her head on my chest was the most comfortable position for her so feeling guilty for earlier I just reclined on the bed and let her lie there. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

It wasn't what she wanted to hear because they were getting too close for comfort but there was little that she could do to stop it. "Just be careful okay? I don't want you to get hurt. I know you're going to tell me that you know what you're doing but I really don't think that you do."

"I do know what I am doing and there is nothing between us but friendship so you need to stop stressing or you will end up in here. Goodnight Cassie." Without uttering another word he made his way out of ICU to head home.


	25. Chapter 25

A week had passed since Stephanie had been told that she had no chance of leaving hospital any time soon but slowly she was starting to pick up and it was making everybody happier.

* * *

Paul laughed as he walked in to ICU to see Stephanie walking from her room to the desk on her crutches, she was steady on her feet and didn't completely need the crutches but they kept her stable and for the time being that was essential to try to prevent falls. "Well good evening Speedy Gonzalez. What are you doing out of your room?"

Carefully turning around so that she didn't fall she smiled at Paul, "I was itching to get out of this place so wanted to ask about wearing clothes and going outside in to the grounds for a few hours. Do I get a hug?"

Walking closer to her he gave her a hug, "Come on then, let's wait for the Nurse and see if they'll let you go out and then we'll wait for your dinner before I take you down for a visit to the concourse for some people watching."

Not to Paul's surprise when the Nurse did arrive and Stephanie asked her she said that it was unlikely but she would ask the Doctor. "Come on then, let's go and wait for your  
dinner away from these party poopers."

Giggling softly she let Paul lead her back to her room, momentarily he distracted her from the disappointment of yet another no, whatever she asked for she always got turned down for it which sucked a lot when she wasn't asking for much. With a heavy sigh she collapsed on to the bed, she may as well just stop asking and hoping for things as she was never going to get them.

He wasn't a miracle worker but maybe he could get her out of there for a couple of hours, he just had to formulate a plan and come up with some sort of schedule for it to show that he had thought it through and was taking it seriously but that would happen later, for now he was going to try to take her mind off rejection, "So how's the notebook working out for you?"

Stephanie shuffled up the bed so that she was sat where she could reach it so that she could pass it to him, "Look what I've done."

Taking the notebook from her he opened it to see she had written notes on the front page of people that she had to remember including Doctors, Nurses, the Psychologist and Jess, flipping through the pages he noticed more notes and he couldn't be more proud of her. "I'm so proud of you Stephanie; you have taken on board what I suggested and are using it to your advantage."

Unable to remember the name she reached for the notebook smiling gratefully when he handed it back to her allowing her to flip to the page of names and scan down for the one that she wanted, "Nadine was surprised when I used her named when she arrived. I got . . ." She checked the notebook again for the name before she continued, "Cassie to help me with all of the names that I had been in contact with and should know. It really helps though; I don't feel so embarrassed about feeling that I know the person but not having any idea who they are."

"Well I am glad that it has been helping you out."

"It has, if only it would help me to get out of the door even if it is only for a few hours." The Doctor told her that it could take months before they would be able to find help for her to permanently leave hospital but she was healthy so a few hours in the grounds should be fine, she didn't understand what they felt could go wrong.

Paul couldn't help but think that maybe she wouldn't be able to wait for tomorrow so as her dinner was brought in he reached for the notebook, "Can I borrow a piece of paper please?"

"Sure, I mean technically it is your notebook any way so help yourself." She didn't even care what he wanted it for as her dinner actually looked appealing tonight.

"Thanks." He ripped a piece of paper from the back of the notebook and borrowed her pen so that he could scribble down his plans and that is what he did, whilst she ate her dinner he wrote out his plans before he folded the paper up and put it in his pocket.

Once she had finished her dinner Paul moved the tray away, "So do you want to rest and let your dinner settle or do you want to go straight out down to the concourse?"

"I'm okay with going straight out if you are."

"Not a problem." Getting up he picked up the crutches for her ready to help her off the bed, she didn't need it now but he always had a fear that she would fall so he did it anyway.

She took his offered hand and stood up before he handed her the crutches which she took, "Let's go people watching."

* * *

The two of them spent a little more than an hour down in the concourse before Paul escorted her back to her bed. Once he made sure that she was comfortable back in her bed he said goodbye as he was going to head home for the night but before he did he dropped the paper off with a Nurse to be passed on to the Doctor the next day.

* * *

 _A few weeks later  
_

Surprisingly it had not taken much to get the Doctor to agree to this, the hardest part was getting the day off from work but now it was here he was looking forward to it.

Getting ready for the day he was interrupted by his phone beeping and when he checked it he couldn't help but laugh:

 _Are you sure you want to take the day off? I mean wouldn't you prefer to keep me company at work?_

He felt bad for Jess but despite the fact that Stephanie had no idea what was happening today the last place he wanted to be was at work as for whatever reason Dan had been driving everybody crazy for the past week so he needed the time away.

 _Nope, no chance, no way, no how. You can keep anal Dan all to yourself and I will enjoy my day off._

Once he was ready for the day and had eaten some breakfast he headed to the hospital to surprise Stephanie with a day release, or a few hours, whatever she was actually up to when it came to it anyway.

* * *

Stephanie was bored, there was a lot of activity in ICU but none of it was of the good variety so she couldn't help but hope for the best for whomever it was that was sick. After what felt like a lifetime in hospital she was itching to get out as she had a bad case of cabin fever.

Suddenly the door opened and in walked a Doctor, a Nurse and Paul, "Great, which one of my dreams are you here to kill today?"

Paul moved to stand at the bottom of the bed with a smile on his face; this was going to be an amazing surprise for her he hoped.

"Actually the only person who will have a dream killed today is Paul if you say no to this."

Intrigued by the Doctor she moved to sit up a little straighter, "I'm still confused. Who is going to tell me what is going on and why you are here?"

The Doctor motioned towards Paul, "Go ahead; this is yours to share with her."

He wished that the Doctor hadn't put it on him to share the news as she looked at him so hopefully. "Okay so I had this crazy idea that I would take you out for a few hours or the day, depending on how long you are up for."

Her eyes widened and she was shocked to hear that she could get out of here, "Are you serious?"

"I am deadly serious; as long as you want it then you have a date with me and the outside world."

So excited to get out of there she moved to the edge of the bed, "So do I have any clothes to wear?"

The Nurse laughed, "I know that you do and I'm about to help you get dressed in to them so slow down."

More than happy to see her with a smile on her face the Doctor motioned to the door, "Well I am going to get out so that you can change but before the two of you leave I have some instructions for you so don't hurry out of the door."

Paul and the Doctor left the room together pulling the door closed behind them when they did. "So do you think she liked the idea?"

"I think that she loves the idea but you're going to have to think for her because she is so happy and eager to be out of hospital that she will not pay attention to her body and when she is too tired and needs to come back. I will give you some painkillers to take with you as I am aware that this will be a lot more than her body has been used to so she may get in pain quickly but beyond that you need to be careful."

"Don't worry; I have no plans to let her push herself too far. There is not a lot of walking involved, it will mostly be sitting and watching people go about their day but it is a different four walls."

"Good, I am glad that you are thinking ahead. I need to just go and check up to make sure that the painkillers are ready for you so I will be back now."

* * *

A little over five minutes later and the door to Stephanie's room opened, "Can we leave now?"

"Sadly not, we have to wait for the Doctor . . ."

"Who is coming right now?" The Doctor waited until he was stood in front of them before he said anything more but first he passed a small pill bottle to Paul, "Here are the painkillers I mentioned. Stephanie I know that you will be excited to be out and about but I need you to be aware of how much your body can handle and if you are too tired or in too much pain I need you to come back early okay?"

She didn't want to say yes but she had a feeling that if she said no then he would refuse to let her go full stop. "I promise that I will be a good girl and won't push myself too hard."

"I promise that I won't let her push herself too hard. Can we please go now though? I want to make the most of the day."

Chuckling the Doctor nodded his head, "Be my guest. Have a good day Stephanie and I will see you later."

Her only response was to smile as she turned around and headed for the door with Paul following closely behind her.

When they reached the concourse he gently put his hand on her back being careful not to impede her use of the crutches, "I will lead you to my car so that we can head out. I was thinking that we could go to park for a little while and then think where we want to go from there, I thought the fresh air would do you good."

"I like the sound of that, thank you. Thank you for doing this for me, you have really done a lot more for me than anybody and I can never repay you for that."

He didn't need repaying, he just needed her to be happy and that would be payment enough for everything he had done for her. "Don't sweat it; it's nice that I can do these little things to help you out."

"Little things?! You have convinced them to let me out for the day and you are the one actually taking me out, that is so far from being little." She didn't understand why he was acting like it wasn't a big deal when it really was a big deal and he was having to fight for these things so it wasn't easy.

Stopping her when they reached his car he unlocked it and opened the passenger door for her, "They are little things to me. I like seeing you smile and ever since you found out that you got to go out for the day you have been smiling and that is all that I wanted to achieve." The conversation was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone but Paul didn't answer it, he just looked at the screen and then put it back in his pocket, "So are we going to the park or what?"

She noticed the way that he rolled his eyes at whoever was calling him but despite everything she didn't feel like it was her place to ask him if everything was okay. "Yes! Please can we go to the park still?"

"Of course but first you need to get in the car. Do you need help? I want to say you will but I don't want you to bite my head off if you think you won't."

Giggling softly she looked between him and the car before she slowly nodded her head, "I don't want them to kill me so please can you help me?"

"Of course I can." He would do anything for her, especially something like this that would not involve either of them getting killed.

After he had helped her in to the passenger seat he climbed in to the driver's seat and they were on their way.

* * *

Throughout the drive to the park Stephanie noticed how his phone went multiple times but he didn't even attempt to look at it.

When they arrived at the park Paul helped her out of the car, "So which way would madam like to go?"

"Honestly I don't mind, I don't know this park so if you do just take me the prettiest route please."

Paul did know the park well because he had came here many times before with Lola although he hadn't been here since her accident so it was going to be hard for him but he wanted to do it as it was the prettiest park in the close area and she deserved pretty. "You have yourself a deal."

The two began walking around the park before he stopped them near a beautiful flower bed, "Let's take a seat here because I think if we walked any further I could probably cross 'being murdered' off my bucket list."

A gentle giggle passed her lips as she stopped at the bench and allowed him to help her sit down, she didn't need it normally but her body was stiffening up after the walk so really she needed it this time. Groaning as she took the weight off she sank back against the wood of the bench, "Thank you."

"You're welcome; I'm not sure what I did though."

"Thank you for helping me to sit down, my body is stiffening a little but I think it's because I am not used to walking so far so please don't take me back." The last thing she wanted was to be so close to spending the day in the fresh air and for the day to be ruined.

He was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and would not take her back just yet, "Do you want painkillers? I have them."

"No thank you." She may be uncomfortable but she wasn't that uncomfortable just yet.

The two were sat quietly when his phone began to ring again. "For fucks sake Paul, why don't you answer the damn phone?" She didn't mean to snap but it just kept ringing so somebody clearly wanted to get hold of him desperately.

Paul removed the phone from his pocket and looked at the screen as it stopped ringing; he had almost ten missed calls from work at this point. "I'm sorry; I should have put it on silent."

"Or just answered it. Who is it and what do they want with you? It really does seem like it was important." Shuffling across the bench she moved to rest her head on his shoulder staring out across the park.

He slipped his hand in to hers as she sat beside him, "It is work, they know I have the day off though so despite calling me almost ten times at this point I am not answering them."

Raising her head she turned her head to look at him. "Call them back, I don't think they're going to leave you alone until they get what they want."

Whining he really didn't want to call them back, "Do I have to? It is my day off and I wanted to spend it with you and not fielding calls from work about things that can wait until tomorrow."

"Just call them for me please for the sake of both yours and my sanity." She could understand his hesitation to call them but if they were not going to stop calling then he was going to have to.

"Fine." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before he stood up and walked away from the bench calling work, after a moment the phone was answered, "What do you want Jess? You know that I'm spending the day with Stephanie."

Oh she knew alright and she had told Dan that he wasn't around because he was spending the day with a close friend who had been badly injured in an accident but he called bullshit on the story and demanded that she call him. "I know Paul and I'm sorry, I did not want to do this but Dan demanded that I did. The head office have made a surprise visit and are doing an audit of all of the files and they've noticed some irregularities and want an explanation and as Dan has put all of the blame on you they wanted to speak to you so he has demanded that you come in to the office and explain yourself."

"But I'm with Stephanie; I'm not taking her back to the hospital because my stupid boss has thrown me under the bus to save his slimy ass." He was so ready to quit his job just to get away from him right now.

"Bring her with you, screw Dan and what he has to say about it, it's your day off and you had plans. Hopefully it won't take that long but maybe Stephanie won't mind the detour as she can come and sit with me."

The idea of taking Stephanie to his work wasn't exactly something that filled him with joy but he didn't want to lose his job either. "I guess that I don't have any choice in the matter do I? I'll be there soon." Slowly walking back to her he put his phone back in his pocket, "I have to go back in to work, my asshole boss has thrown me under the bus so I have to go in to explain myself to the people from head office."

"Oh." She shouldn't be so sad about it because it was a really nice thought but he had a life and he had to put his life first, especially when it came to his job, "I understand Paul, you have to work if you have to work. It was nice being outside of the hospital whilst it lasted."

"Oh no, you're not going back to the hospital, unless you want to, I was going to drag you along to my work and you were going to sit with Jess, if you don't mind. If you would prefer going back to the hospital though then I can do that too."

She remembered the name 'Jess', she had a feeling that she actually knew the person so nodded her head, "I'll come to work with you and hopefully you won't be long so that we can continue our day."

He wasn't going to be long because he refused to take more time out of his day off than he actually had to. "I promise you that unless I can actually help it then we will be in and out faster than you can say 'day off' and we will be back to enjoying our day out."

"Okay. Come on and let's get this over with so you can enjoy your day off again." She allowed Paul to help her up so that they could make their way back to the car.

* * *

Twenty minutes later and he was reluctantly escorting her through the front door of his work, "I'm sorry about this Steph but I promise to be quick."

"It's okay, I can cope."

Ever since she had spoken to Paul every time the door opened Jess turned her head to look to see who it was, up until now she had been unlucky but as she turned her head looking away from one of the men from head office she couldn't help but smile seeing Stephanie walking through the door. "Wow, look at you walking all confident and looking so happy."

She couldn't help but return the smile as she walked closer, "I've been practising a lot so I get stronger and can hopefully walk without crutches soon."

"You certainly are stronger, I am really proud of the work that you have put in."

"Paul! I thought that you were never going to get here."

Paul's attention turned from Stephanie to his boss who was quickly walking towards the reception desk, "Dan, how kind of you to call me to insist that I came in on my day off."

The last thing she wanted was to be the cause of drama at work for him so carefully balancing more on her left crutch she lifted her right hand and placed it on his arm, "Relax, we'll be gone soon."

Forcing a smile as he looked at her he nodded his head, "Yes Miss."

A soft giggle passed her lips at how authoritative he had treated her with his reply, "Good boy."

"Wow, you have moved on awf . . ."

Jess knew exactly where Dan was going with that and she refused to let him confuse Stephanie or upset Paul, "So what did you want him for on his day off Dan? You are cluttering up my reception area." At this point she wasn't worried about being told off, she just needed the subject changed.

At this point one of the men from Head Office spoke up, "It was actually us that wanted to speak to Paul about some of his files, we won't keep him too long though I promise."

Paul escorted Stephanie to the front desk and around it to sit in the chair that Jess had brought over, "Stay here with Jess and I will be as quick as I can be."

"Take your time Paul; I will take very good care of her." When the phone started to ring she went straight back in to work mode as the men walked off. Once she had finished the phone call she turned to look at Stephanie to check on her, "Everything okay?"

Being here around his work was weird and made her nervous, well more his boss made her nervous as he was so slimy and so . . . douchebaggy. "I guess, the boss makes me nervous, I don't trust him."

Jess moved her chair a little closer to the other woman so that they could have a more private conversation, "That makes two of us, or well an entire office. Nobody trusts Dan at all so just be grateful that you won't have to see him ever again, or many more times anyway."

"I am grateful for that. It is no wonder Paul is so grumpy when he comes to visit me every night, it must be so hard working here." She glanced towards where Paul had walked to and sighed, she wanted out of here already.

* * *

Paul led the two men to his desk, "Take a seat and tell me what you want to see and know."

"Are you sure that you want to do it here and not in private? It is not exactly something that looks good for you if it is true and not an oversight."

Now he was intrigued but he had nothing to hide and he refused to act like he did. "No, we're fine here thanks as I have nothing to hide."

"Okay so there are some serious irregularities, we're talking fireable offence level irregularities."

So confused by how he could have possibly made such a mistake when he was so careful he started rifling through the files on his desk that he had been working on, "So which file is it?"

"It is actually the files in the other pile on your desk." Reaching for the files he pushed them towards him, "It is these five files."

Staring at the pile of files he didn't recognise them, flipping through the pile he didn't recognise the names of them either. "You really aren't going to believe me when I say this but I genuinely haven't seen these files before."

He was right; they didn't believe him so he picked up the files to read out the names to jog his memory. "Well you have Jameson, Booker, Khan, Mighty and Powell."

"Wait, did you just say Mighty?"

"Yes I did. You are remembering the files now are you?"

"Yes, well no." How did he say he remembered the files because he saw that file on Dan's desk and the one name stuck out?

Both men looked at each other trying to gauge whether the other person believed him or not but neither did. "I'm going with your stalling for time to come up with a decent lie."

Tidying the files in to a neat pile Paul sat back in his seat, "I promise you that I'm not lying. The reason I am hesitant to tell you the truth is because I don't want to throw somebody under the bus."

"Well you have been thrown under the bus so it is only fair that the cycle keeps going. All we are after is the truth, we aren't looking for finger pointing or office politics, we just want to know who isn't doing their job properly."

"Dan." It was the last thing that he wanted to do but he had to do it for the sake of his job, he wasn't being fired for his mistake, or at least he hoped it was a mistake . . . made five times.

The two men from Head Office exchanged a look before one picked up the files, "So why are you throwing your boss under the bus? You do realise that if you aren't telling the truth then this is probably your job right?"

"I know but I am. When exactly were these mistakes/errors meant to have occurred?" He knew that it was a long shot but he had just had a few months off so that could also work in his favour if luck went his way.

The other investigator took the top file from his partner's hands and began to flick through the file looking through it for the dates, "It began roughly four months ago. Why exactly do you want to know? What bearing does that have on you throwing your boss under the bus?"

And there lay the problem. "Umm, there is a small problem with me being responsible for all of the problems/mistakes/whatever you want to call them because I wasn't even working here then. I lost my wife a couple of months ago so when all of that was going down I was actually on compassionate leave."

If he was on compassionate leave then how the hell did Dan expect them to believe that he was to blame because that was something that they would have easily found out? "Thank you for being honest with us Paul but I am really sorry about your wife."

"That's okay, you weren't to know. I really hope that it was simply an error on Dan's part and he hasn't deliberately misled you guys."

What they knew and Paul didn't was that it went so much deeper than one small mistake but they weren't going to share that. "Thank you for your time. We need to get on with the research but feel free to go about your day off and spend time with . . . your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend; she's just a good friend who has had some pretty awful luck."

"Well definitely go and enjoy your day, you have both earned it."

* * *

Stephanie had enjoyed spending time with Jess but she missed Paul, she had looked forward to spending the day with him when he had arrived and now she was alone without him. It wasn't that Jess wasn't interesting or was making her feel like a pain in the neck hanging around her, she just wanted to be with Paul.

When he didn't return quickly she began to worry, "Is he going to be fired?"

"Fired for what?" Firing off an email she tried to keep up with her work as Stephanie sat with her but when she asked a confusing question like that it was hard.

"I don't know, stuff. It isn't normal to spend this long talking to people from head office and it not to be bad news."

Thankfully before she had time to come up with something to placate the other woman she spotted Paul walking towards them. "Well he doesn't look like somebody who just got fired so I think we are safe on that one."

* * *

As soon as he could see the girls he smiled, they looked like they were having a deep conversation but it was nice seeing her out of the hospital. "Are you ready to go Stephanie?"

"What's the rush Paul? I thought you may actually talk to me and tell me what is going on."

He glanced over his shoulder to make sure that it was safe to speak first. "Let me put it this way, I refuse to stay here any longer than I have to and want to get out of here like yesterday." He knew that she deserved an explanation so maybe he could share Stephanie, "Why don't you join us for lunch? I can fill you in then and we can get out of here fast."

"Sure, I can meet you for lunch. Why don't you get out of here now and text me where to meet you when you make a decision?" She didn't wait for a reply; she stood up to make sure that Stephanie was safe to get up.

"Thanks Jess, you're the best. We will catch you in a little while for lunch." As soon as Stephanie made her way around the desk he placed his hand on her back leading her towards the door, "So did you have fun?"


	26. Chapter 26

There was a park not too far from Paul's work so instead of enjoying the prettiest park in the area across town they settled for a mildly pretty park closer so that they could be close to Jess for lunch.

About twenty minutes before she would be due to go for lunch Paul sent Jess a text and told her where to meet them and then he had to convince Stephanie to leave which may be harder than he hoped because she had been very quiet ever since they left the office.

"I've texted Jess about lunch so are you ready to go?"

She shrugged her shoulders completely unsure of why she was feeling so unmotivated to move.

It was hard not to notice her lack of enthusiasm. "If you don't want to meet with Jess for lunch as you're tired or in pain then I can text her and cancel."

"It isn't that." Uncomfortable she shifted on the bench to look at him, "I . . . I just, did you suggest this lunch as you have been fired? Did you run out of the office so quickly because they fired you and you were mad and didn't want to be around anybody there anymore?"

It was so sweet how worried she was about his job but she had no reason to be worried. "I haven't been fired, I promise. I wanted to get out of the offices fast as I wanted to avoid my boss and because I didn't want anybody to attempt to make me stay when it is my day off and they had already interrupted it once."

"You promise you still have a job."

Paul took her hands in his and held them tightly, "I promise that I still have a job, I'm not so sure the same could be said for Dan. We don't have time to get in to that now though if we are going to meet Jess on time. Are you ready to go?"

* * *

After a small conversation with one of the waitresses Paul was directed to a table in the corner of the room so following her advice that was where he led Stephanie to sit.

They had only been seated for a couple of minutes when he spotted Jess walk through the door and she quickly made a beeline for them, "Oh my God, you won't believe what happened after you left."

"Well hello to you too. We had a really visit to the park thanks."

Stephanie giggled at Paul's reply and the look of indignation on the other woman's face. "Paul I think whatever the reason that she didn't greet you politely it was big because I'm sure she is normally more polite than that."

"I am, I really am but this is **huge** gossip and nobody wants to wait for this whilst basic pleasantries are exchanged."

They were briefly interrupted by the waitress wanting to give them all menus and to collect their drinks order before they were left alone again. "Are you going to guess what happened now?"

Desperately trying to think of what could possibly have gotten his friend this excited he was completely drawing a blank. "I wish I had something to guess with so I'll go with you were given the afternoon off?"

"Nope, somebody else was given the rest of their life off though."

Confused and a lot intrigued Paul didn't even look at his menu, "I want details. Who got fired? Why did they get fired? Did they cry?"

"What?!" Stephanie looked at him shocked, "You can't ask that."

"But I really want to know. Come on Steph, you can't tell me that if it isn't somebody you didn't like you wouldn't enjoy it."

If she could remember people then maybe but as she couldn't remember anybody and didn't hold any grudges then she couldn't say she agreed with him. "I can't say that I do but only because I can't remember people to feel like that about anybody. We should let her talk now though so that we can order as she has to go back to work."

"Okay so the details on why he got fired are really scarce and sadly he didn't cry but he did look incredibly angry as he was escorted out by security."

Shocked by the new development his mouth dropped open, "They got escorted out by security?! Holy crap that is serious."

Having deliberately been vague on who it was Jess decided that now was the right time to let it all out. "Okay so it seems like when they told Dan that he was fired that he kicked off in a serious way."

Paul's mouth dropped open, "Dan got FIRED?!"

"He did, I don't know the full details yet but hopefully there will be some rumours this afternoon and then I can text you and let you know."

Did he tell her or did he not?

Stephanie could tell from his body language that something was up. "Paul? What's wrong? Are you uncomfortable?"

"In a way but only because I don't know what to say. How much information do I give? I don't know what is gossip and what is the truth."

"Just spit it out Paul, I'm not about to start spreading it around the office so even if it isn't entirely true it will only be between the three of us." Mildly offended that he didn't trust her she tried not to actually get mad at him over it as it wasn't worth it.

Looking between the two women he decided to just tell them both. "The reason I got called in to the office by head office was because Dan threw me under the bus and said these five files were ones that I had worked on and there were some sort of irregularities or discrepancies or something in the files which were fireable offences. The only issue is that those five files that appeared on my desk I had never seen before but obviously they didn't believe me when I said that I had never seen the files before, I mean who would? Anyway in their ability to catch me out they read out the names of the accounts and when they read out the one name I remembered it from last week when I had to see Dan about getting today off and he made me wait whilst he took an unimportant phone call so I just sat there reading the names of the files on the desk and one was so unusual it amused me so stuck in my head. I had to tell the guys from head office where I'd seen the files but I didn't expect Dan to get in trouble or be fired over it, I didn't realise that he would have been dumb enough to make the mistakes. It did help my case that whenever what was wrong with the files happened I was on leave."

So shocked by his revelations Jess did not have a single word to say in response so was actually grateful for the appearance of the waiter wanting to take their order.

Once the waiter left with their orders Paul looked expectantly at Jess, "So?"

"So what? I am actually speechless right now. I can't believe the guy who is supposed to be a boss and in charge and responsible could act like that."

That made two of them because he couldn't believe it either but it was all true. "Considering he was willing to lie about something so serious and throw another member of the team under the bus I am glad that he is gone."

"Don't forget the whole costing the company money thing."

Giggling at the fact that he missed the most important thing Stephanie shook her head at him, "But what now? Who is going to be in charge of everybody now?"

Nobody knew yet but she may know later. "Well I guess we won't find out until I go back to work so I'll have to tell you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?! Jessica you cannot make me wait until tomorrow, I need to know everything today."

Unhappy with the way he was speaking to his friend Stephanie leant closer to him and gently slapped his arm, "If she wants to make you wait until tomorrow then you will have to wait until tomorrow."

Charming, he was the one helping her and she sided with Jess. "Remind me to never be nice to you again." Playfully poking his tongue out at her he hoped she took it all in fun.

Jess rolled her eyes at him, "Well men say bros before hoes and this is just the female version of that."

Paul couldn't help but scratch his head at that as he tried to work out her logic, bros before hoes was about guys and their friends and girlfriends and Stephanie was definitely not his girlfriend but for some reason he wasn't offended. "I guess that I am not going to win here so sure, whatever you want to do Jess."

Their food was delivered and the subject was changed allowing the three of them to enjoy their lunch together.

The three of them really enjoyed their lunch together before Jess hugged the other two and headed back to work leaving them alone to get on with their afternoon.

* * *

After spending the afternoon out and about but not walking too much Paul convinced Stephanie that it was time for her to go back to the hospital.

By the time they got to the hospital he could see her eyelids drooping and didn't want to put her in the position of potentially getting hurt because he probably wouldn't see tomorrow if he let that happen. Pulling in to a parking bay as close to the entrance as he could he switched off the engine and turned in his seat to tell her what he was going to do but she seemed so out of it there didn't seem a whole lot of point so climbing out of the car he went immediately to find a wheelchair.

A couple of minutes later he returned, not wanting to disturb her too much he quietly opened the passenger door, leaning across her he undid the seatbelt before he carefully picked her up transferring her to the wheelchair. Staring at the crutches he had no idea how to carry those up to ICU with him as under normal circumstances he would have gotten her to hold them but as she was asleep he was going to have to tuck them under his arm and hope for the best that he didn't kneecap anybody or smack them in the face.

Quietly shutting the passenger door he locked the car before he made his way inside smiling gratefully at the people who held the door for him.

When he reached ICU and buzzed to be let inside he was worried how they would react to Stephanie being asleep, maybe he shouldn't have kept her out for so long though, it was just when she begged him not to go back quickly he had to oblige.

Instead of being buzzed in the door to ICU opened and the Doctor was stood in front of him, "You're still here Doc?"

"Yes, my shift doesn't finish until late tonight so I am still here. How did it go? Is she okay?"

Pushing the wheelchair inside he motioned to her room, "It's great, she's great, she really enjoyed her day."

Following them in to the room the Doctor moved around the wheelchair to pull back the clothes on the bed, "And she is fast asleep because? Don't you think that you should have brought her back before she got to this point?"

"How could I?" He knew that he would be in trouble but he had hoped that her enjoying the day would override their anger at him. "After I had to interrupt the day to go in to work I couldn't not just let her enjoy the day as long as I felt that she could until it affected her health. Please don't stop me seeing her."

"Why would I stop you from seeing her?" He watched him transfer the patient back to her bed before he covered her up with the sheet and blanket, "You're good to her, good with her and good for her. I would be crazy to prevent you from seeing her when some days you are the only reason that she smiles."

The two men made their way out of the room with Paul unable to stop thinking about the fact that she was stuck in hospital for absolutely no reason.

Once the Doctor shut the door he turned to say goodnight to the other man but as he did he noticed a strange look on his face. "Is everything okay? Did something happen that I need to know about?"

"Not really, nothing that you wouldn't expect like her not having the strength to walk a long way."

"Do you mind me asking what is on your mind then please? You look like you have something on your mind and if it is a concern about my patient I would really like to hear it so that I can hopefully try to put it right or arrange for something to help her."

The thought of lying did appeal to him so that he didn't put any pressure on the Doctor but he did have to know how close to leaving she was. "Any closer to knowing when Stephanie will be able to get out?"

He wanted to say that they were really close but unfortunately he didn't think that they were close at all, "I don't actually think much progress has been made on that at all, not that they haven't tried but there just hasn't been any progress."

"Oh, I'll leave you to it then. I'll be back tomorrow if she asks."

"Don't worry; I'll be sure the Nurses know so that they can make sure that Steph knows if she asks. Thank you for today Paul, judging by how deeply asleep she was she really did have a good day."

He didn't know what to say, the day had been as much about making him feel better as it had been about her. "It's fine, I enjoyed myself. See you tomorrow Doc."

* * *

As he left the hospital Paul couldn't help but think about how much he wasn't in the mood to cook dinner tonight so he was going to have to stop off to pick up some take out on his way home to save him having to actually cook.

Chinese was his chosen dinner however it took him a good ten minutes to actually dish out his dinner because his mind kept drifting off to other places.

He sat down with his plate and began to push the food around for a little while, he was hungry and he wanted to eat but he just couldn't get his brain to shut off so that he could focus on his food and not Stephanie.

Lying in bed that night he was attempting to get to sleep but in reality he just stared at the ceiling as he just couldn't get to sleep, he still couldn't get his brain to shut off about Stephanie and how she was just stuck in hospital and would be for the foreseeable future.

Eventually falling asleep he didn't get much sleep as the last time he saw the clock it was almost five.

As he walked down the stairs in his sleepy stupor he passed the dining room and the downstairs toilet on his way to the kitchen for coffee and it got him thinking. He filled up the kettle and put it on to boil leaning against the counter as he waited, would it even be possible with him working? Would she even want that? Was he getting in over his head?

With a renewed focus and energy for the day he started on his breakfast whilst he waited for the kettle as it was taking forever and he wanted to talk to Jess before work as she would tell him if it was a stupid idea or not.

* * *

Before he even walked in to the office building he knew that it was going to be an interesting day because the amount of people milling around in the reception area was unusual. "Good morning everyone. Do we not do work here anymore? Then again, why is everybody in so early?"

Jessica rolled her eyes, "I'm here early as I was told to be yesterday, everybody else is here early because they are nosey little fuckers wanting to know what is going on. Talking about them being nosey fuckers, what are you doing here early?"

"I'm actually here to talk to you, I thought if I was here early I could catch you when you walked in, I didn't expect you to be here."

With everybody taking the hint and going back to their desks as nothing was happening and Paul now stood in front of her she leant forward in her chair, "What do you want to talk to me about? Did something happen yesterday afternoon? Is Steph okay?"

"Nothing specific happened and she's fine but something the Doctor said got me thinking and I couldn't sleep last night because of it as I had an idea." It was vague and she was probably going to smack him for it but the lack of sleep wasn't working well for his brain.

"Can you possibly speed this up Paul? We actually have to start work properly soon and I want to help you as much as I can possibly do so before then as you sound like you need it but I honestly don't have the first clue what you are blithering on about."

"Sorry, I barely slept last night." Rubbing his eyes he was desperate to wake up if they had a new boss starting today. "I have a downstairs bathroom and I have a room that could be turned in to a bedroom or if the stairs were a possibility then she could have a guest room but I thought about maybe offering for Stephanie to stay with me whilst she recovered. What do you think?"

She thought that he was crazy and out of his mind but yet it wasn't entirely out of character for him lately. "I love you but that is crazy. It is one thing to visit her in hospital but it is another to take on the responsibility of looking after her all day, every single day and I think that is just one step too far Paul. At this point it sounds like it would be a good idea if you took the time to do some more thinking about it because I don't believe that you have really thought every single part of it through and the impact that it will have on your entire life and how long that it will last because it will obviously prevent you from working and you have only just come back."

"Actually, I was thinking of continuing to work. If I work nine until five Monday to Friday it will give her some freedom and independence but it will also have the safety net of living with somebody and having somebody there to take care of her and make her meals to make sure that she is safe."

Neither of them had noticed the front door open and the two men from Head Office walk in again. "Ah Paul, it's so good to see you back at work today. Have you got a minute please as we wanted a word with you?"

Paul turned around to face his two bosses, this couldn't end well. Looking back at Jess he gulped, "Maybe all problems will be solved in about five minutes time. Please pray for me."

Following the two bosses down the corridor he could feel his stomach churning and the urge to be sick was strong. Despite everything he did like his job and he really didn't want to lose it but he had a bad feeling that he was about to.


	27. Chapter 27

As Paul followed his bosses in to what used to be Dan's office he was nervous to find out exactly it was they wanted from him. "You'll be surprised to hear that I already know about Dan being fired so if that is what you wanted to say then let me save you your time."

"Take a seat please because technically we did want to talk about that but it isn't those specifics."

Slowly taking a seat he was really nervous now, maybe they didn't appreciate the time off he took and they were about to fire him too? "Feel free to jump right to the point and not beat around the bushes, I'm not somebody you need to sugar coat things for."

Both of the bosses took a seat behind the desk so that they were at eye level. "This is actually about your current job here; we really don't think that it is sustainable any longer."

"Oh." He had joked with Jess that he may be out of a job soon but he didn't mean it and really didn't think that they would do that to him. "Is there any way that I can make changes and keep my job please?"

Quickly realising that wires had been crossed the one boss was eager to set things straight. "We aren't firing you; we actually wanted to promote you."

A promotion wasn't exactly in his plan for the next few months but he would hear them out. "Okay, a promotion to what though? Do you want me to do some quality control and report to the new boss if I find something irregular?"

"Promote you to boss of this division of the company now that Dan has left." He gave him a second to process that before he continued. "We spent yesterday afternoon and some of the evening going over everybody's numbers and the customer feedback that we have received and you are by far the best and the customers seem to like you the most also."

He had been blindsided by the news of the promotion but to find out that they wanted him to actually be the boss was more than his brain could comprehend at this second. "Are you serious?"

"Of course, we're not going to have this conversation with anybody if we weren't."

Part of him wanted the promotion but a bigger part of him felt the guilt of continuing with his life when Stephanie was still stuck in hospital, especially when he had been contemplating having her move in with him and he wasn't sure that he was ready to give up on that just yet.

"There will obviously be a pay rise and other benefits to go along with the promotion." There was an obvious hesitation about him which surprised them but they wanted him to take the job.

"It isn't about the money or the benefits." Taking a deep breath he had to be honest with them. "The woman I brought to the offices with me yesterday has become a fast friend of mine because she was in a serious accident a few months back where she lost her entire family and ended up with a number of injuries, the end result is that she has no memories, she can't retain information and she can't go home to live on her own so she needs care. The hospital have tried rehab places but because it is just her memory they won't take her so she has to wait for some other type of care but it sounds like a really long wait. Oddly enough last night/this morning I was actually thinking about asking her Doctors about having her released from hospital and moving in with me and I'm not entirely sure whether I could care for her and run this company."

"We didn't realise how much your friend relied on you." Despite that they would be willing to work with him as they really wanted him to take control as they felt like he was the only one currently here that they believed in to turn it all around. "I am sure that we can work with you to make it all possible if you do want her to move in with you and take the job."

They really had to be desperate if they were willing to work with him when it came to running the company and taking care of Stephanie. "Are you sure that I am literally the only person that you want? There are many easier options I'm sure."

And this is why they wanted him for the job; he was putting the company first above his desire to move his career forward or to challenge himself in a new way at work. "This is why you are perfect for the job Paul, you put the business before yourself which means that you won't take shit from anybody and will actually get this place back on track and you won't lie to the customers. At this point we will literally give you anything you want just so that you say yes."

"So you'll double my pay, give me three times the amount of holidays and I can only work one day a week but will get paid for five?"

Both bosses laughed at the ridiculous demands, "We can negotiate the terms of your employment as boss but we would like you to be in the office for a portion of the day at least four days a week please."

"I was kidding, I wouldn't ask for any of that."

"So you'll do it?" He hadn't said he wouldn't and the way he had just spoken made them hopeful.

They said he could get a raise and that they would give him anything he wanted as they trusted him and they were so desperate for him to take over for them. "Okay I'll do it; I will take over and try to sort this stuff out for you whilst you find somebody to take over permanently."

"Actually we aren't looking to find somebody to replace you, we literally only want you. Are you sure that you're still willing to take over now knowing that we're hoping you'll stay long term?"

Taking a moment to silently think it over he had to decide whether he was truly willing to commit full time to running the company and juggling that with seeing Stephanie or not. "I'll do it, I may be crazy but I am willing to try and run the company for you."

"Brilliant. We have a meeting set up ready for fifteen minutes and we will announce it then."

"WHAT?! How did you know that I would agree to this?" He was both confused and impressed by their confidence.

Laughing at his reaction they shook his head, "We were either going to announce Dan's departure and you as the new boss or just announce Dan's departure and announce that we are looking for a replacement and somebody from head office would be inserted in the mean time on a temporary basis. Why don't you and take ten minutes to compose yourself and wrap your head around this and then we'll get you before the meeting."

At this point getting ten minutes to clear his head would help a lot. "What are the chances of me stealing Jess from reception to talk it all through with please?"

"Sure, as long as she can get somebody to cover for her then we don't see a problem with that, you are the boss anyway."

"Thanks." Not wasting a second he practically jumped out of his seat and raced out the room cornering the first person he saw and begging them to sit on reception, once he had their agreement he all but dragged them to the front desk. "You are being relieved of your duties for five minutes. Come with me Jess."

In a stunned silence she went through the motions but wasn't even sure what she was going until she was free and being pulled from around the desk and towards the door.

* * *

As soon as they were out of the front door he pulled her a little way from it so that people going in and out would have no idea what was going on.

"You're scaring me Paul. First you are called to a meeting with the bosses and then the next time I see you I am informed that I am being relieved of my duties and you're pulling me out of the door. Care to tell me what is going on?" Stood there staring at him she couldn't gauge exactly what bombshell was about to be dropped on her but the one thing she did know was that it was going to be huge.

"Is that any way to speak to your boss?"

"I'll speak to you any way I wa . . ." Suddenly what he had actually said hit her, "My boss? What exactly did I miss? If you could explain it quickly I'd be eternally grateful."

It was funny how slow she was to catch on to what he was saying but unfortunately he didn't have time to tease her about it so had to jump straight in to the explanation. "The reason that the guys from head office wanted to talk to me was because they wanted to offer me Dan's job, not temporarily whilst they looked for somebody permanent but they actually want me to take it on permanently."

"And you said yes right? I mean you call yourself my boss so you had to surely."

"I did, they're announcing my appointment in about ten minutes but I wanted to tell you first before everybody else found out."

He seemed genuinely happy and excited about his job and she felt bad for bringing this up and popping his bubble but it was only twenty minutes ago he was discussing the idea of Stephanie moving in with him. "What about Stephanie?"

"What about her?" He had a feeling he knew where she was going but he hadn't forgotten her, "I have discussed it all with them already and they're happy to work with me on it. They want me to be in the office for a portion of the day at least four days a week so that gives me plenty of time to work with if they agree that she can move in with me."

"You're still set on that then?"

"Well yes, why not? Just because I now have to rule this rowdy bunch it doesn't mean I can't do that too. Whether they will let her with me is another story but for now I am going to act like they will and just see what they say when I put it to them. Once I have spoken to the Doctors and such and got their agreement is when I will speak to Stephanie about it because the last thing I want to do is get her hopes up for them to say no."

As much as Jess wanted to grill him on it she didn't get a chance because as she opened her mouth to say something they were called back inside and then for the rest of the day she didn't see him at all because he spent the entire day being coached on how things worked and what was expected of him.

* * *

By the time he was finished the office was empty and he was so late to see Stephanie. Rushing through the hospital he didn't want to miss visiting time because he didn't want her to think that he had abandoned her after yesterday.

The second that he arrived at ICU he slammed his hand on the buzzer to be invited in, surprisingly it didn't take long but when he opened the door he was faced with the angriest face he had seen in a while, "Uh oh. What did she do?"

"You mean apart from burst in to tears when she thought she had upset you and you weren't coming back again?"

"Maybe I should go and buy her some flowers or chocolates as an apology. I genuinely didn't mean to be late but there was a lot going on at work and I couldn't get away."

She rolled her eyes at his clear desire to suck up, it was the last thing Stephanie needed. "Mmm hmm, likely story. You're here now though so just go in, I don't think she would care all that much for you sucking up as she would for your presence."

"Thanks. Have a good evening." He knew better than to argue so he simply said goodnight and made his way in to Stephanie.

* * *

She never knew the exact time that Paul came of an evening but she did know that her dinner never before he arrived, once her dinner arrived and she managed to eat it and he still wasn't there she knew he wasn't coming. When the Nurse arrived to take her plate she made a throwaway comment about it being quiet and it made her cry.

Lying in her bed she was feeling sorry for herself, she couldn't remember anything going wrong or them fighting so now she was left all alone and sad as seeing him was the highlight of her days and all she looked forward to.

As soon as he walked through the door he felt like complete shit, he could tell from her body language how upset she was and he hated to see it. "I am so sorry that I am late, I got stuck at work with the guys from Head Office. Could you ever forgive me?"

The sound of his voice shocked her and she scrambled from her side facing away from the door to sitting up managing to pull out most of the bed sheet along the way. "You came. You're not mad about something I did yesterday."

"Of course not, you were a perfect angel." He walked over to her and gave her a quick hug and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "I'm really sorry I upset you though, I genuinely didn't mean to but with my new role apparently comes new responsibilities and they had to explain it all to me because they don't plan on coming back tomorrow."

"So you weren't avoiding me?"

"Absolutely not, you can't get rid of me that easily I'm afraid, well unless you want to anyway and then I will leave you alone."

"Nope, I like your company." Reaching for his hand she held on tightly in a desperate attempt to stop him from leaving her. "What did your bosses have to explain to you? I thought that you knew how to do your job."

Paul let her hold his hand and chose to just sit on the edge of the bed beside her as she did so. "I do know how to do my job, well did, the problem is that I have been given a promotion and am now in charge of the entire branch of the company."

"You are?" The news had made her feel like a terrible person for being upset; she had no right to be upset because his life would always come before her.

"I sure am but don't worry, it doesn't mean that I'm going to stop coming to see you, wild horses couldn't keep me away from you."

"You really mean that?" She didn't know why that she was so worried about him leaving her but she was terrified and now she was feeling somewhat relieved, as long as he meant what he said.

Seeing the fear in her eyes was heartbreaking but he refused to abandon her. "Of course I mean that. Before I officially accepted the job I told them that I was refusing to be tied to the office as you were really important to me and it was essential for me that I was able to visit you every night."

"I don't deserve you; you're too kind to me."

He wasn't going to hear her talk like that so pressed his finger to her lips, "No, I refuse to hear you speak like that. You absolutely deserve kindness, you deserve so much more than that so believe that."

He was too kind; she didn't deserve him as a friend at all. "Thank you Paul, I can't thank you enough."

"You don't need to thank me for anything, we're friends and that's what friends do and are for.

He enjoyed his visit with Stephanie despite it being shorter than normal but the entire time he was plagued by thoughts of having her come and live with him but it was not a discussion he could have with anybody but the Doctor and he didn't want to have it late at night so on the way out he asked what time the Doctor started so that he could be there early.

* * *

It was eight o'clock in the morning and he should be on his way to work but one of the perks of now being the boss was that he was able to go in whenever he liked.

Cassie's surprise at seeing Paul wasn't easy to hide, she knew that he should be at work and after a few days off she wasn't sure if she had missed him being fired. "You're here early."

"I have somebody that I want to see and it isn't Stephanie. Is the Doctor free please?"

"I believe that he is just finishing his rounds. What shall I tell him this is about?" There was no real reason for her to ask for the information on what it was about; she was just nosey when it related to Paul and Stephanie.

He wasn't falling in to the trap of having somebody else tell him that it was a terrible idea so she was going to get a vague answer. "You can tell him that it is about Stephanie."

She had to laugh at him simply because she was amused by the way that he spoke. "Okay fine, I will pass the message on and I am sure that he will be with you soon so take a seat."

He took a seat and tried to relax but he could feel Cassie's eyes burning a hole in his skin the longer that he sat there waiting. Thankfully it was only a couple of minutes before the Doctor was walking towards him, "Good morning Paul. What can I do for you?"

Getting to his feet he was painfully aware that their conversation was not going to be a private one if they stayed where they were. "Can we talk in private please?"

"Of course, we can go to my office." He wanted to believe that this was nothing bad but it wasn't looking good at this moment.

The two made their way to his office and took a seat. "So what is this about Paul? I am not used to having a visit from you so early in the morning."

Did he just come out with it or did he build up to it? Given the time and the fact that he had to get to work there was only the one option. "I was thinking that Stephanie could come and live with me. It would give her the independence she craves but also the care that she needs. I have a downstairs bathroom that she can use and a dining room that I can turn in to a bedroom for her or she can have one of the guest bedrooms upstairs depending on her ability to climb the stairs."

"You actually want to have Stephanie move in with you? Exactly what is going on in your head Paul? Why would you think that it is a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Why was everybody so against him having Stephanie move in with him so that he could get her out of this damn hospital? "All I want is for Stephanie to be able to get out of this hospital and you yourself said that you weren't getting any closer to finding a company to help her get out of here so why not me? I have been promoted at work and can take as much time off as I want, well within reason."

It was scary how much he had apparently thought about it and how much work he had already done and how much he actually cared about her. "I'm going to be honest with you Paul; I am concerned about how deep you are getting in to this and how much involvement you are having with Stephanie. It is one thing for you to visit her and take her out for the afternoon but having her move in with you is serious, it isn't temporary it is long term. I can't tell you when she will get her memories back or even if she will get them back so you could be looking at forever and naturally you will eventually want to move on with your life and having her live with you will only hinder that."

"And if I told you that I didn't care how long it took? What if I told you that I can't see myself ever moving on with another woman and am happy with my life as it is?" No matter how much he tried to dissuade him from doing this he was convinced that it was the right thing to do for Stephanie.

He wanted to find all of the reasons under the sun to tell him he wouldn't agree to it but he had a feeling that if he did then he would just pester him repeatedly until he did. "I will contact the Occupational Therapists so that they can come and assess your house as if is unsuitable then it will be a hard no or there may be alterations that need to be made before she can move in with you although I will have to find the right time to speak with Stephanie and ask her if she actually wants to move in with you."

"Let them assess the house and see if it is possible and then we can talk to her. So when do you think the assessing will happen?"


	28. Chapter 28

_One week later_

Desperately tidying up Paul was trying to make the best impression for when they came to assess his place so that whatever problems there were they gave him a fix for them so that he could get Stephanie out of the damn hospital before she went crazy.

When the doorbell rang he dropped the cushion that he was fluffing back on to the couch and hurried to answer the door. "Hi I'm Paul, do come in."

"Hi, I'm Nick and this is my colleague Rachel." They both followed him inside examining every single inch of the walk towards the lounge, "So where exactly are you thinking of converting for Stephanie? The Doctor did say something but I want to hear it from you."

"I'm looking to either convert the dining room or give her one of the guest bedrooms depending on her abilities so you should assess both places to be on the safe side." And that is what they did, for the next two hours but Paul wouldn't have it any other way, he answered every question and asked plenty of his own.

Once the inspection was over Paul made his way to work, he had a long day ahead of him now but he wasn't worried because he had to do the most important thing to him and that was getting Stephanie out of the hospital.

* * *

Arriving at the hospital after a long day of work he walked in to Stephanie's room to see her with crossed arms and a pout on her face, "What's wrong pretty lady?"

"I didn't think you were coming, they said visiting was nearly over so I thought you were too busy with work to come."

"Never. With all of the extra work I need these daily visits to keep my mind sane. So how was your day?"

Her days were all the same at the moment, with the lack of time she had to spend with Paul and the endless days being all the same. "Same shit, different day. I don't blame you for any of this Paul but you're working longer some days in the week so every day is the same four walls doing nothing but exercises."

It took everything Paul had to not tell her to bear with him because he was working on getting her out of there. "Why don't we go down to the concourse for half an hour? I'm sure that we can get away with that right?"

"If we can't then tomorrow I may just sneak out of here and not come back."

Not wanting to encourage those thoughts or the behaviour he grabbed her robe, "Before they have a chance to catch us and tell us no let's get you ready and only tell them that you're going down to the concourse on our way out."

As they walked out of her room the Nurses station was empty and Paul thought about sneaking her out of there without saying anything but thankfully a Nurse walked in through the door meaning he didn't have to put his life on the line because he was too lazy to wait. "We're going down to the concourse; we'll be back in half an hour." Not waiting for a response he quickly ushered Stephanie towards the door so that she got out of there.

* * *

Sat in the concourse watching as people went about their business she couldn't help wanting that to be her. She still needed the support of crutches as she walked and she was still cooped up in this hospital not able to go out when she wanted, not able to eat what she wanted and not able to watch anything she wanted.

Discreetly checking on her to make sure that she was okay he noticed the frown on her face so slid his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer, "What's wrong?"

"Just having one of those days where instead of focussing on what I have I am dwelling on what I don't."

"Do you want to talk about what you don't have that makes you so sad?"

Leaning closer to him she found such comfort in his touch, especially when she was sad or feeling down. "What do I have apart from my life Paul? I appreciate you and everything you are doing for me but at the end of the day you'll be gone eventually. Right now I don't even have my freedom so I'm just struggling to find good things that are happening in my life."

What did he say? He couldn't say he was trying to get her out of there but he didn't want her to lose all hope either. "It'll get better Steph. Why don't I see if I can take you out for a couple of hours at the weekend?"

"You would do that?" He was so kind to her, she really didn't deserve him but saying that she hoped that if he succeeded in getting her out of there for a few hours.

Arriving back at ICU Paul left a note for the Doctor to see if he could just take her out for lunch on Saturday before he left for the night.

* * *

When he walked in to work the next morning he was early because he wanted to avoid the issues of the day because he hadn't gotten in from seeing Stephanie until late because of how her mood had been. Leaving a note on the desk for Jess he made his way to the office to start on his work.

Twenty minutes later there was a knock at the door so putting his pen down he sat back in his seat, "Come in."

"Good morning Paul, you wanted to see me."

"Yes I did, thank you Jess. I left a message last night for Stephanie's Doctor asking if I could take her out for a couple of hours on Saturday as she is struggling right now and really needs the reason to smile you know? Anyway if her Doctor calls can you put it through immediately please, even if I'm in a meeting?"

"Even if you're in a meeting? Isn't that a bit unprofessional Paul?"

The last thing he wanted to do was play phone tag with the Doctor. "I think they'll forgive me for taking a phone call from a Doctor, they don't need to know the nature of the call and it will only be a short one so I don't think that they can complain all that much."

"Your choice boss. As normal I will take all other messages for you unless they are very urgent." She couldn't argue with him because he was her boss and she had to do exactly what he wanted.

"Thank you. You are dismissed." He didn't mean to be so cold towards her but the way she challenged his decision irritated him but saying that he couldn't let her walk out and think that he was mad. "I'm sorry for snapping, after last night I just feel so guilty and my head is just in many places today so I snapped at you over something incredibly stupid. Forgive me?"

There was nothing to actually forgive as she wasn't mad. "I'm not mad Paul so relax; it will take a lot more than that to piss me off. I'll let you get on with your day though, give me a shout if you need anything."

* * *

Much to Paul's surprise when he took an early mark at 4 he still hadn't heard from the Doctor but he wasn't bothered as he may see him now.

On his way out of the door he stopped at Jess' desk so that once she was free he could pick her brains.

When the phone call ended she looked up to see her best friend and boss stood in front of her which may not be pleasant for her as she hadn't heard from the Doctor. "Can I help?"

"Yes. I'm heading out now but I wondered whether you thought Stephanie would enjoy The Greatest Showman? I thought I would try and cheer her up by watching a movie and so many people have said such good things about it I thought that it was worth trying."

"She should love it; you may surprise yourself and enjoy it too. Give her my love and tell her I'll be in tomorrow evening with some cake as I have a family dinner for my partner tonight to celebrate her birthday."

"Do I get cake too? Thanks though, I'll let her know. Take messages for me and call if there are any disasters otherwise I'll be back tomorrow. Enjoy your evening."

"Thanks, you too." She watched her best friend walk away and wondered exactly how thin he was spreading himself and whether he was going to lose his job because he wasn't paying it the correct amount of attention.

* * *

The arrangements had already been made for Paul to be able to hook up a Blu-ray player to an actual television for her so all he had to do was swing by home to pick that and the movie up and he would be on his way.

Stephanie was relaxing and listening to music on the iPod that Paul had let her borrow when suddenly a trolley was wheeled in with a television on, pausing the music she pulled one of the buds from her ear. "Why are you leaving a television in here? There is one mounted on the wall you know."

"One has been requested for this room so I am leaving it here like I was asked. You'll have to ask somebody else why it was requested as I am literally just one of the porters, sorry."

Smiling softly at the older guy she appreciated that he was honest with her because after asking different people different questions today it felt like nobody else had been honest with her. "Thank you for your honesty."

"You're welcome." Making his way out of the room it was nice to get a thank you from somebody because this job either involved unconscious patients or people who just expected to be carted around with only a small amount of people actually using their manners. As he left ICU he passed somebody walking in with a Blu-ray player tucked under their arm so her question would be answered soon enough.

Paul waved at the Nurse as she walked down the corridor before he slipped in to Stephanie's room, "Good day pretty lady."

Not expecting any visitors Stephanie had actually reached for her notepad to go over the pages to see exactly what she could remember out of it all as she listened to the music. Focussed on the book she didn't see or hear Paul walk in until she felt a hand on her shoulder and she screamed.

He only wanted to let her know that he was there as she didn't respond so he felt immense guilt when she screamed. When she pulled one of the earphones out he took the opportunity to apologise. "I'm so sorry Steph; I didn't mean to scare you."

Looking around she tried to gauge the time because something felt off. "What are you doing here? Have I lost even more of my mind? You shouldn't be here yet should you? I'm so confused right now Paul."

"You haven't lost anything, I just left work early because I thought we could relax and watch a movie together. I did bring popcorn but that is strictly for after you've had your dinner because I don't want to die and I am pretty sure that if any of your Nurses saw me giving you popcorn before dinner they would kill me."

"I would cover for you but it's okay, I get that they're scary to you. What movie are we going to watch whilst you play hooky from work?"

Laughing he pushed his way on to the side of her bed to take a seat. "I think you will find that as the boss I am not playing hooky, I am taking a well deserved early mark from work."

She shuffled over slightly giving him room to sit down. "Well as long as you won't be in trouble I won't complain. What are we going to watch?"

"The Greatest Showman. I heard good things about it and thought it would be a good way to spend some time together. Ready?"

"Only if you'll be my pillow. Because of where the television is there is no way for me to sit comfortably because I am struggling today with my back, I don't think the weather likes me."

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before he got up to hook up the blu-ray player and start the movie. Once the movie was loading he put the bag of popcorn on her table and then took a seat back on her bed but he didn't start the movie until she had shifted about in bed until she was comfortable with her head on his chest.

* * *

They were just over half an hour in to the movie when the Doctor walked in. Absently waving at him Stephanie didn't want him to interrupt the movie as she was actually really enjoying it.

Paul couldn't help but smirk at the way that Stephanie acknowledged the presence of the Doctor in the room, not that he was much better but he at least glanced in his direction.

Not impressed that they didn't stop their movie for him he took the remote from the side where Paul had put it and paused the movie.

"HEY! I was watching that." Less than impressed at the interruption she pushed herself up so that she was sat back up. "Why are you interrupting our movie?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you and I refuse to do that whilst you are watching the movie and therefore ignoring the words coming out of my mouth."

Grumbling she crossed her arms over her chest sulking slightly. "You have had all day, why pick now?"

She really was making things difficult for him tonight, much more than normal. "Are you in pain?"

"What? If that is why you are interrupting the movie then please leave."

"It's not, you're just cranky and it is not normal for you to be like that so be honest, are you in pain and do you need pain killers?" He tried to gauge from her face whether she was in pain or not but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

As he sat there Paul watched the interaction, the pain she was in was clearly more than she had let on so if she dared lie about it he would drop her in it.

If she wasn't confident that there was no chance of Paul splitting on her then she would be glaring at him right now. "I'm in pain, I don't need painkillers thank you, it is nothing I can't handle as I'm lying down again."

"Are you sure? If you want painkillers just in case then you can have them too, just let me know." He admired her stubbornness sometimes but he couldn't wait to get her out of there as she was going stir crazy and he was going crazy dealing with her.

"I'm sure. Paul is really useful as a pillow and the movie helps me forget the pain so you know if we could get back to it soon I'd be happy." Reaching across Paul for her notebook she flipped through the pages until she found the one she wanted so that she could read it out. "The Physio said that because of my injuries I am more susceptible to pain, specifically in my back."

"The Physio is probably right so you need to be careful and I will consider giving you painkillers long term. I will get to the point of my visit for you though so that you can get back to the movie. I have been approached with an idea which would enable you to get out of here but it would mean that you are unable to go back to your own home for the time being."

Torn between anxiety and excitement she didn't know how to react. "I don't know my own house so is that really a problem? Who or what is it that has approached you to help me?"

"Paul."

"Paul who? When do I meet him? I don't want to agree to anything if I don't know who is going to be taking care of me and if I like them because I need to trust them with not being able to remember things." She was so scared about who it was because the Doctor wasn't exactly giving her much information to work with right now.

He really thought that she would have caught on to what he was saying but apparently she didn't. "You have already met Paul; he is sat right beside you."

Her head snapped to the side to look at the man that she had just been lying on. "You what? Do you actually know any of this?"

Laughing at her reaction he nodded his head. "I know all about it because I was the one to suggest it a few weeks back and since then I've had to have an assessment of my house to see if it is suitable. This is the first time I have heard that it is possible though."

Why was he suggesting that she moved in with him? That would mean that he had to take care of her and he had a job and it wasn't making any sense to her why he would make that decision. As much as she wanted to get out of hospital the last thing that she wanted was for it to come at the expense of his life, job or happiness. "But you've just been promoted, how is any of this possible?"

"My house isn't that far from my work so if I have to work a full day I can swing by at lunch to check up on you. What we discussed initially is that I'd make you a sandwich for your lunch before I went to work and then I would be able to trust you to take care of yourself for a few hours as you're mobile and there will be no need to climb stairs as I have a downstairs bathroom. Because of my promotion I don't have to be in the office all day every day so I can be there for you and take you to hospital appointments. If you don't want to move in with me then that's okay, I won't take it personally, I just thought that I would offer it as an option."

This was a lot for her to take in and she wasn't sure how to feel about it because as much as she wanted to get out of there he already gave her too much of his time and energy.

Silence after the explanation wasn't the answer the Doctor expected so deciding to give her some time he would leave her for now. "Well I have somewhere I need to be whilst you think it over and come to a decision so if you'll excuse me. If you need me you know how to get hold of me."

When the Doctor walked out of the door Paul reached for the remote to turn the movie back on. "Are you ready?"

Shifting about in the bed until she was lying back down with her head on his chest, "I'm ready."

He settled back on the pillows and pressed play on the movie keeping the remote close this time ready for the next interruption.

* * *

They only stopped the movie next when Stephanie's dinner came so sliding off the bed he moved the table up for the nurse to place the food on. "Would you prefer it if I stayed or if I left you alone to eat as I have been hanging around for a while already Steph?"

"Please stay, I want to talk." She missed lying down with her head on his chest but as she shifted about on the bed her stomach growled and suddenly it wasn't all that important but she didn't want him to leave completely.

"Sure." He stepped aside to let her put Stephanie's dinner down before he pulled a chair over to take a seat himself. "So what did you want to talk about?"

She thought she was comfortable but as she tried to eat she realised that she wasn't so shifted some more until she was finally comfortable. "Why do you want me to move in with you?"

"Why wouldn't I? I sat back and waited for them to find somebody qualified to actually take care of you so that you could be in your own home but when nobody came forward I chose to step up and offer my home for you to stay in, if you want it."

"What about what your family think? I don't want to come between you and them."

He shrugged, "I'm an adult, I can make my own decisions and fuck them if they don't like them. I have an upstairs guest room you can have or I can transform the dining room to your bedroom and there is a downstairs bathroom that you can use. The kitchen is pretty straight forward so you'll be able to navigate it safely when you are alone whilst I am at work although naturally I will prepare your food in advance just in case I don't make it back for lunch."

Stephanie didn't know what to say, he really did seem like he had thought about everything and he seemed almost determined but yet she knew that he wouldn't force it on her if she didn't want it. "What if I need more care than you think or having me there is more hassle than it is worth for you?"

"It'll be okay." Falling silent he tried to think of the best way to phrase what was going on in his head because he didn't want her to take it the wrong way. "If either of us is feeling like it is all too much and we need a bit of a space or we just want to be alone I have a spare television and DVD player that I can set up in your room and it will all be okay."

As she ate her dinner she thought over everything that he had said and weighed up the pros and cons in her mind, was he really serious about it or was it a spur of the moment decision? "Sleep on it tonight Paul and if you're still serious tomorrow then I'll give it more thought."

"Why would I need to sleep on it again?" Scratching his head he was confused as he had already explained he mentioned it a few weeks ago. "I first spoke to the Doctor about it a few weeks ago Steph, I told you this, I have had a lot of nights to sleep on it and I am still willing to do it."

"Oh." Feeling incredibly stupid she smacked herself in the head, "Stupid brain, I want a new one."

Jumping up from his seat before she could hit herself again he grabbed hold of both of her hands. "Don't hit yourself in the head, it won't help. It's okay that you didn't remember, I'm used to women not remembering what I say because my sister never listens to a word that comes out of my mouth."

"Yes."

"Yes . . . what?" If she was agreeing that listening to what he said was not important then he would sulk, having one person who did it was bad enough.

"Yes I will move in with you. Thank you Paul, I promise that I won't cause you any troubles and I will hire a person to get access to my money so that I can pay my way."

Sighing heavily she had bigger things to worry about than her money right now because that would open a whole can of worms he wasn't sure that she was ready to face. "Don't worry about money and paying your way right now, just focus on getting better and then we can worry about that when you are stronger." In a bid to distract her from what she had said he pushed her dinner back closer to her before he went back to take his seat.

Once she was out of hospital there were bound to be situations that arose but at least then he would be able to handle them in the best way he thought and not have to stand back and let the Doctor control it all and he would be home and eating a lot earlier in the evening.


End file.
